The next few days was calm.
The pair of little sibling has already became close to Mu Tian and Xunr.
Now, the four of them would occasionally play in the manor making the servants feeling both envy and grateful.
Those who previously looked down at Xunr now looked at her with admiration.
Fortunately, she is always with their young master, not letting him fell into depression after his cultivation was wasted.
Some loyal servants of the family who had received Mu Tian's kindness previously even felt grateful to her.
Expect for the matter that General Mu was still investigating the matter of northern border, nothing exceptional happened at the Mu family.
But same can't be said for the royal family.
Two days ago, an Nascent Soul elder from the Black Water sect arrived at the Imperial Capital.
Upon his arrival, he started to act high and mighty.
Emperor Qin, who is inherently proud and scheming felt absolutely humiliated.
Although he has always been scheming against Mu Mansion, his goal is to remove the Mu's so there won't be any force to threaten his power.
But now he has to act like a lowly servant in front of an Elder of Black Water Sect, he felt utterly helpless.
Fortunately, that elder from the Black Water sect hasn't stayed for a long time and left with Crown Prince Qin Ye after three days of his arrival.
Yet, Emperor Qin felt he couldn't hold it any more if it was any longer.
That elder left silently with Crown Prince Qin Ye as he he arrived and no one noticed them.
But that can't be hidden from some big families like Mu, Kong and Zhou for a long time and after few days all of them noticed that Crown Prince Qin Ye had disappeared mysteriously.
This makes the big families extremely tense.
As they knows Empress Qin has a mysterious origin and the sect that she belongs to is extremely stronger.
Thus they become suspicious of Empress sending Crown Prince to the sect she belongs to.
If that happens and the Crown Prince able to gain support from the sect, then wouldn't they become lambs in his hands when he return?
On the other side, after investigating for two weeks, General Mu returned with the news of Zhou Empire's plan to launch an all out attack at the ....border.
In the evening of that day ,a big meeting is being held in the Elders Hall.
With a serious face, General Mu told his brothers that the Zhou Empire has already gathered a massive army near the Wind Valley of southern border and can attack at any time.
When rest of the elders heard the news, their facial expression become solemn.
"Why does this Zhou empire suddenly want to attack us?" Elder Jin said with a confused expression.
Originally, their Qin Empire had a relatively stable relations with the Zhou Empire and the border between the two empire had been stable for almost a decade.
It was only in recent years that some small incident happened.
Mu Mansion, who are responsible for guarding the border between Zhou Empire thought that those incident are just done by the rebellious soldiers and hadn't paid much attention to it.
It's only because the attacks become more frequent in recent times that General Mu and Elder Guan decided ti investigate their motive.
It seems that the Zhou Empire was slowly increasing their army near the Wind Valley of northern border, planning to take it over in one swept attack.
But what they couldn't understand is although Zhou and Qin empire is almost equal in strength but the Wind Valley is one of the base of the Mu Mansion, the second strongest family in the Qin Empire after the Imperial Family.
And Mu family consider it as one of their most important assets as it produced tons of numbers of high quality spirit stone every year.
Although Zhou Empire has been eyeing it covetously, with the presence of Mu inside the valley, they had always kept their intention hidden.
They knows that If the Zhou empire really want to conquer Wind Valley , Zhou empire has to dispose a force capable of fighting Mu Mansion.
And after the last time when Old Master Mu taught a lesson to them, they had been peaceful for a while.
So, most of the elder couldn't find the reason behind their action.
While the entire hall is gloomy Third elder Mu Feng asked with a hint of confusion,
"The most important thing that we have to find out why are the Zhou Empire planning to attack the Wind Valley."
"The Wind Valley has been under control of our Mu Mansion for almost over a century and we have forces deeply hidden within the valley."
"Don't they know that even if they conquered the wind valley, it would be impossible to keep it?"
Elder Guan, who has been silent all this while answered,
"I'm afraid that the Zhou and Jin empire has joined force this time to attack the Wind Valley."
"They have been eying the Wind Valley for over a decade. It seems like they couldn't hold up anymore."
Expect for General Mu, all the elder's face turned green with shock when they heard Elder Guan say that Jin Empire has joined force with the Zhou Empire.
Elder Jin was most shocked when he heard this.
Among the brothers of General Mu Elder Jin is the most hot blooded and cheerful one.
He slammed his chair furiously as cursed,
"What the fuck.?"
"That lousy Jin Empire, aren't they fighting with the Zhou Empire a year ago."
"How come they has became ally so quickly?"
The other elders, although were silent, their thought are also the same as Elder Jin.
They looked at Elder Guan, waiting for his answer.
Elder Guan coughed dryly then explained,
"We didn't know how the war between Zhou and Jin Empire ended so quickly but the Zhou Empire has definitely paid a high price to make Jin Empire join them."
"After two weeks of investigation we found out that even though they are willing to help the Zhou Empire, their number aren't many and most of them are at the Body Tempering Stage and only a few Qi Refining Stage while their leader is a late stage Foundation Establishment realm."
"So, they won't add much add on the army. But we still need to focus on the massive army who are weaker in strength but massive in number."
"And our current force situated at the Wind Valley won't be able to resist them if they launched a full scale attack."
As Elder Guan said the last sentence, rest of the elder in the hall felt the situation is much more serious than they thought.
Even if a full scale war broke out with the Zhou Empire, Mu Mansion would still be able to hold their fortress with the number advantage of Golden Core realm cultivator.
But if the Zhou Empire launched a sudden strike and take control of Wind Valley before their reinforcement could arrive then even with the advantage of Golden Core realm cultivator it would be hard to take it back.
As the Wind Vally is filled with resources, the elders of the Mu Mansion naturally isn't willing to give it up.
So they looked at General Mu with an expression of waiting for his answer.
"Brothers, we definitely won't gave up on the Wind Valley."
"If Zhou Empire wants to take it then let them try. We will teach then a lesson again."
"Now, the most important thing for us to look for a chance to breakthrough to Nascent Soul realm."
"Especially, those who are at the peak of Golden Core Stage."
"Empress Qin must have sent Crown Prince to train in her sect and once he returned with the support of that big sect, we won't be able to hold the fortRess without any strongmen from the Nascent Soul Stage."
"Thus, we need to breakthrough to the Nascent Soul Stage as soon as possible."
"But the good news is that my wife and I are already close to having a breakthrough and will be able to achieve Nascent Soul in a year or two."