The young man returned to the brothel.
Both the stout man and the middle-aged man were basically naked. None of the women around them were wearing any clothes either.
The young man returned to his room after seeing them having such a good time, in order to contemplate his findings.
The stout man came to the young man's room after a while.
"Did you find anything, brother?"
"I found the guardian of the royal palace up at Mount Yan. He was actually hiding up there spying on the royal palace. What a peculiar fellow indeed."
The young man caressed his chin out of habit.
He noted that that other man had neither confirmed nor denied what he'd asked.
Peak of first tier of Saint level. That was what he had speculated the level of the guardian was as well.
"Did you ask him about Brother Dugu then?"
"I did, and he said that he had never seen him. His reactions didn't look like someone who was lying."
"But the warriors of Clan Dugu have all basically vanished from the royal palace. He should've known something even if it had nothing to do with him," the stout man added.
They had finally been able to find some leads regarding the disappearance of those from Clan Dugu all those years ago.
They speculated that Dugu Feng might have worked with the others from Clan Dugu.
Eight warriors at the peak of the Spirit Manipulation Realm from Clan Dugu had been killed.
If someone at Saint level didn't go inside the royal palace after that, something would have been very wrong with those from said clan.
"That is something that puzzled me as well."
But then again, the young man thought that it made sense.
There was simply no way someone at the peak of tier one of Saint level could cause the disappearance of someone at tier two of Saint level.
"Where is he? We'll head out and ask again. Some people are very good liars after all," the stout man said.
The two talked as they walked out of the brothel.
...
It took Old Demon Han quite some time before he found a cave that had two entrances at Mount Yan.
Suddenly, he heard a voice from not too far away, "That young man from the Xuan Sect is coming here again, and he's going to use force this time. Run."
Swoop~
Old Demon Han ran out of the cave without even stopping to think.
"Old Demon Han, the reputation of your legwork really precedes you indeed." Li Mu chuckled back at Shouning Palace.
He then watched the ones from the Xuan Sect and frowned.
How about I just snuff the three of them out then, eh?
Their presence worries me after all.
What's such a big deal about the Xuan Sect anyway?
I'm a warrior at the level of Perfected Person after all.
He thought about snuffing out the three guys for a bit, but gave up the thought.
It was still best not to mess with the Xuan Sect if he could help it.
They had yet to mess with him after all.
He simply waited to see if they would indeed come to him.
By the time the young man arrived at Mount Yan, Old Demon Han was nowhere to be seen.
There was only his lingering presence left in a cave.
The young man pursued Old Demon Han over the next several days, yet Old Demon Han was always able to detect the young man's moves and run away beforehand.
"Forget about him then. Let's bring the geniuses we found back to the Xuan Sect first," the young man decided.
They had discovered quite a number of geniuses during the days they'd spent looking around in the city.
The most talented among them all was the fifth son of Clan Zhao.
The boy was only 18, yet he was already at the Higher Heaven Realm.
Compared to Liu Yu, who was still at the Acquired Realm despite being in his 20s, this man was a genius of a different order of magnitude altogether.
The difference between those at the peak of the Acquired Realm and those at the Higher Heaven Realm was more than just a difference in powers.
Those lacking in talents would be doomed to forever stay at the peak of the Acquired Realm, yet those capable of making it to the Higher Heaven Realm easily would have little difficulty breaking into the Spirit Manipulation Realm that followed.
It was entirely possible for these individuals to reach Saint level if they were given good methods.
If the sect or clan involved was willing to prioritize their resources for such people, they could also stand a considerable chance of making a breakthrough into becoming Perfected Persons.
That man was deemed a treasure.
"Yeah, that's what I thought we should do too. Things will only get messier if we linger around here any longer," the middle-aged man added.
"One of you go out and ask Liu Yu about it. If he's willing to leave with us, then take him with us. If he's unwilling, then let it be. We'll come and look at him again next time."
...
Li Mu found that those from the Xuan Sect had left two days later.
The Xuan Sect, eh?
It's just a place with several Perfected Persons among them, which fosters a bunch of exceptional disciples, no?
I could do the same.
Old Demon Han is one, and the Ninth Lord is another.
Right.
No one else, eh?
At the lord's residence...
"Are you not regretting it, my lord? Not leaving with the Xuan Sect?"
"What's there to regret? I have my own teacher, and, besides, even if I didn't have one, I still wouldn't leave the capital city. My mother is still in the palace after all," Liu Yu answered.
The teacher he'd mentioned was none other than that mysterious man.
Despite not having seen that mysterious man in person, Liu Yu had taken that man to be his teacher.
At Mount Yan...
Li Mu sighed.
Old Demon Han was nowhere to be found.
The man had disappeared, just when he needed that man's help.
"Come on, they are just people from the Xuan Sect. Are you really that much of a scaredy-cat? They tried to lynch you a few times and you just disappear like that?" Li Mu grumbled.
It would seem that he would have to look for geniuses all on his own.
What are geniuses like anyway?
He returned to the royal palace.
He began to flip through the pages of the books in the Library Tower when he had time to spare.
Soon three months had passed.
The eunuch who oversaw all the other eunuchs in the Royal Palace came looking for Li Mu one day.
"Seeing that you've been doing well for all these years, you're hereby promoted. These robes are yours from here on out."
Promoted again?
And gosh, such blinding colors with the robes!
Emerald?
A grand ancestor wearing emerald?
Just what the h*ll happened that I need to wear emerald robes indeed?
Green was just fine with me, all right.
A little girl of about seven years of age sneaked into Shouning Palace after the eunuch left.
"Do you like it, Eunuch Li?"
"Like what?"
"The clothes! The ones you were wearing didn't look nice, so I went to my father and talked to him about it. See, I knew the emerald robes would look nice on you," the little girl tugged at his sleeve and said.
Li Mu was exasperated.
"Umm, well, could I just have the green back instead?"
"Such dull colors don't look nice."
"Oh, you know nothing," Li Mu retorted.
Thoughts of a girl indeed.
What the h*ll do you mean, dull colors?
Low profile, man!
Do you know what low profile means?
You're bullying children again.
No… I'm not.
The promotion had come as a surprise to Li Mu.
He knew that if nothing else happened, he would be wearing those bright emerald robes for the rest of his life.
Fortunately, he had been allowed to keep the green ones from before.
He could still wear his old ones for a few more months.
When he went outside of the palace for check-ins that night, he was carrying a book with him as he looked for the so-called geniuses.
The method he'd found in the library for telling the geniuses apart from normal people shouldn't be that different from that used by the Xuan Sect.
The key was simply to pick ones who have begun training and who have grown very fast despite only training for a short period of time.
This was especially the case with the Xuan Sect, who wouldn't even bat an eye at those who were below the Higher Heaven Realm.
Only young people capable of breaking into the Higher Heaven Realm in a short period of time would catch their attention.
Li Mu held the book in his hand as he summarized the methodology for picking geniuses.
Yeah, the kid still hasn't gotten his marriage proposal rejected. Next.
What was written in the book were all the traits of geniuses that he had read online back in his past life.
Li Mu, as expected, wasn't able to locate a genius for the next several months.
If only Old Demon Han was still around. I wouldn't have needed to do all this work myself.
He still got nothing.
He had looked everywhere that he thought could probably have geniuses in the city.
He returned to the underground palace and went closer to the well, taking a look at the bottom.
I should really stop being so curious.
Regardless of whatever is down there, it would definitely be a case of "curiosity killed the cat" if I were to go down there before I got powerful enough.
Li Mu then took out the piece of jade.
A clan isolated from the world, eh? How about I just hand this thing over to the royal family then? If the Ninth Prince were to have this on him, he would surely get the best resources to train with. But what happens if Concubine Jing misses her son?
He had been pondering about this problem for more than a month.
He was still indecisive about it.
He had actually been thinking about bringing the concubine out of the royal palace in disguise to meet Lord Yu.
But then again, he recalled that Liu Yu was someone very stubborn.
That boy would have wanted to meet his mother using his own powers.
Breaking his will without taking adequate precautions would probably end up changing the course of his life from then on.
I will let him have it then. The sooner he achieves something with his training, the sooner he gets to return and see his mom.
Li Mu packed up and left the royal palace.
He disguised himself as a mysterious warrior and contemplated the origins of the piece of jade.
He actually knew very little about the clans that were isolated from the world.
However, one way or another, he deemed that it was up to the prince.
He wasn't about to interfere if the prince were to choose to stay behind.
If the prince were to leave, it would be up to the prince to seek ways to get in touch with the clan isolated from the world.