Chapter 706 - Directly Entering The Palace
While Lin Mu had seen some special requirements that cultivation sects had on their disciples in the memoirs of the Lost immortal, they were mostly to do with their cultivation talent.
There were none that Lin Mu had come across that wanted for their disciples to stay cooped up in the sect till they reached a specific cultivation base. He wondered what other condition they could put on them without it becoming problematic.
"I see, senior. I'll keep that in mind for future reference... if it ever comes to use." Lin Mu said before continuing ahead.
He looked at Hua Wu and spoke, "how long does this festival last?"
"The Autumn festival lasts for about a week. This is the last week of winter and seeing as it has started today, it will last for six more days till the beginning of the next month." Hua Wu answered.
"That's long enough for a festival. Though since there aren't really proper winters and autumn here in the south central area of the continent, I guess it isn't really as restricted by climate." Lin Mu replied.
He remembered the harsh winters of the north and how the people in the Northern Town had to struggle with food all the time. The winters would lay several feet thick layer of snow on the doorsteps of people sometimes.
There were even a few years when the snow had been two meters deep, which was enough to basically bury most of the houses. That was said to be one of the worst winters in the past few centuries and had happened about two hundred years ago.
A lot of people had died at that time, though the help was also sent from the Shuang Qian kingdom's capital at that time. But the event was still terrifying enough for many generations of people to know it by heart.
When Lin Mu was just five years old, his mother had told him about the dangers of winter and how to prepare for it. He knew what things needed to be done absolutely and which things could be kept off for later.
~Sigh~
'The past is in the past... the present is important and the future is far...' Lin Mu said to himself in his mind.
The three men weaved through the crowds of people as they observed the various new goods that were being sold along with new food items that Lin Mu had not seen before.
"Oh? They added even more new things for me to buy," Lin Mu said with surprise.
Hua San and Hua Wu ignored the words of Lin Mu as they thought that he was just talking about something general. If they knew Lin Mu was talking about food, they would definitely be astounded.
It took them almost an hour to reach the outermost wall of the central district. They were stopped by the guards there, but managed to enter quickly just by showing their identity as a cultivator.
For the second ring, the two disciples showed the new entry pass that was given by the king's uncle to them and entered as well. They had originally thought that they might need to let Lin Mu wait while they went and talked with the king, but they didn't have to.
The guards easily allowed the two disciples in along with Lin Mu, as well. This was mostly because of the specification on the entry pass. It stated that it allowed entry to Nascent soul realm cultivators but not how many nascent soul realm cultivators.
And so, when the guard looked at it, while they were surprised, they still let Lin Mu enter with the two men. Of course, this was not a free method for a ground of Nascent soul realms cultivators to enter since the guards would probably become suspicious when more than the entire city's number of Nascent soul realm cultivators appear at the doorstep.
The other two gates were also crossed with the same method and they got the final entry to the place. Of course to Lin Mu, this was a rather long and winded method, but due to the official nature of this visit, he had to keep up with the etiquette.
Otherwise, he would have just entered using phase from the ground. The formation array around the palace was as good as paper to him and he could freely enter it without being detected now.
Even in the palace, the guards seem to recognize the two of them and let them enter. Though they did stare at Lin Mu for a tad bit longer than normal when they saw him. But this time Lin Mu had his cultivation revealed slightly.
While they were unable to tell what stage he was at, they could very well tell that he was at the Nascent Soul realm just like the others. Just from this, they knew he was not anyone common.
Normally they should have become concerned with the appearance of an unknown Nascent Soul realm cultivator inside the royal place since it could be a threat to the life of the king. They weren't as much because of the other two.
They had gotten specific instructions that those two were honorable guests of the king and were not to be offended in any way. And since Lin Mu was accompanying them, they expected that prohibiting Lin Mu might offend the other two, which might end up causing them problems.
They could only hope that Lin Mu was not here to cause trouble. Though they did escort them to the courtroom of the royal palace. This was to both keep an eye on Lin Mu's behavior and also to serve as cannon fodder while the King got the time to react if Lin Mu turned out to be an enemy.
All of these were general tactics that they had learned over the years and it had served handy quite a few times till now.. But at the doors of the courtroom, Lin Mu had to halt.
Chapter 707 - Meeting King Hong
"Pardon me seniors, but the presence of any additional guests needs to be informed to the King." The guards that were standing outside the courtroom blocked their path.
Hua Wu furrowed his brows, but Hua San took the lead.
"That is fine, we shall go talk with the king first and then invite senior in." Hua San spoke.
"That's fine with me. I'll wait here." Lin Mu replied.
The guards also nodded to this and watched as Hua San and Hua Wu entered the courtroom.
~Rumble~
The large doors of the royal court made a slightly high sound that spread throughout the entire courtroom. One could tell that the doors were not normal and were made from some high quality materials.
They were also heavy and sturdy, able to withstand attacks of Core condensation realm cultivators and even Nascent soul realm cultivator if push came to shove. Of course to Lin Mu, this might be nothing, since he could use skills to get in. He still wanted to get in through the front part to show sincerity.
The door closed the moment Hua San and Hua Wu entered the courtroom and no sounds could be heard coming from inside there. The guards who were standing near Lin Mu were sweating in their boots.
They didn't know what would the king be talking about to them and whether this was even appropriate.
Usually, the common public ended up waiting several weeks, if not months, to get a chance to talk to the King, but now Lin Mu was just getting an express pass.
Lin Mu of course, didn't just stay still there and used his spirit sense to probe the room. And just as he had expected, the room was covered in a separate layer of formations that protected the king and prevented spirit senses from coming closer.
"Oh? They are indeed talking to the king alright. And even the king's uncle is here already." Lin Mu muttered to himself upon seeing the scene inside the royal court.
While Lin Mu couldn't hear what they were saying, he could kind of guess based on their lip movement and body postures.
Overall the expression of Hua San and Hua Wu were normal throughout the short conversation, but those of the king and his uncles were changing. At first, they were surprised, then became calm and when they heard the words of the two disciples, they became even more shocked.
The King gestured them to stop with his hand and said something to them while pointing to the door.
"Ah, seems like this is it for my turn..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.
~Rumble~
The door of the royal court opened up again, but this time it was opened by Hua San and Hua Wu.
"The king is calling senior in," Hua San informed.
"Very well. It won't be good to leave him waiting." Lin Mu said and walked into the court under the eyes of several guards.
Only when Lin Mu had fully entered the royal court did they take breaths of relief. To them, if Lin Mu were to be a bad person who came to kill the king, they would have a very hard time battling him.
At most, they might serve as cannon fodder while the king himself escapes. Though they also recalled that there was the king's advisor and also uncle waiting to help him out in case of trouble.
"Welcome to the royal court of the Hong Lin kingdom," The king's uncle spoke.
Lin Mu took a look at the man and also the king. While the king had a normal expression, Lin Mu could see the fine tremors in his body.
'Hmm... while he is a bit unnerved, he is still observing.' Lin Mu thought to himself.
And while Lin Wu was observing them, the king was doing the same.
'While they already said that the help they got was stronger than them, I didn't expect it to be someone at such a high cultivation base...' The king thought to himself.
As a king, he couldn't let his weaker emotions be shown to the public, lest it just becomes more problematic.
"It is nice to meet his majesty, Hong Qiqiang. I am Lin Mu." He introduced himself.
The king looked at Lin Mu deeply and took a breath himself before speaking.
"So senior's name is Lin Mu. It is an honor to meet you." The King also said with a bit more respect than others.
He could tell that Lin Mu was stronger just from looking at him, as the pressure and aura radiating off him were on a completely different level.
And while the king wondered about Lin Mu's strength, his uncle focused on the name.
'Lin Mu? That seems familiar...' The king's uncle thought.
"Sect master Hua's two disciples say that they have a proposal for us?" The King questioned.
"Indeed, King Hong. I along with my other companion are willing to help the king safely breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm. We will be getting the tribulation attenuation platform ready for you." Lin Mu answered.
Hearing the words directly from Lin Mu's lips, the king and his uncles were astounded to say the least. While they had indeed asked for help from Hua San and Hua Wu, they had not expected it to come this quick.
"King Hong doesn't need to worry now. Senior Jing Luo is highly proficient in formations and will be able to set up the platform in just a few days." Hua Wu chimed in.
The king furrowed his brows and looked at his uncle.
"Since it is you two vouching for brother Lin Mu, I guess I can believe it." The king's uncle stated.
"Fear not. You will get to see the tribulation attenuation platform with your own two eyes and can actually confirm that it works." Lin Mu said. "Besides... from what I can tell, King Hong still has about twenty three days till the time for his heavenly tribulation arrives.." Lin Mu stated, surprising the king and his uncle as well.
Chapter 708 - Hard To Believe
Hearing his own expected time of heavenly tribulation, King Hong was shocked. Usually, this was information that only the person who is about to undergo a heavenly tribulation should be able to know.
If it was to be anyone else judging, they would have to be at a very high cultivation level to be able to do so since it was not simple. Heavenly tribulation was related to the restrictions of the heavens, and it was not something anyone could just casually pry into.
'Even I didn't know it was going to be 23 days from now a week ago... how did he know it so easily?' King Hong wondered.
The king's uncle was stunned as well and didn't know what to think of it.
'This man is not simple...' was all he could think for now.
"Ahem~ what is it that brother Lin Mu wanted to talk to us about more? The two brothers mentioned it. I heard this will be the compensation you want from us instead of anything material?" The king's uncle asked.
"Yes, that part... I believe you may already know about me." Lin Mu said.
"Know about you?" The King furrowed his brows, and the uncle did this as well.
"Your name is relatively common, so it's hard to tell..." The King's uncle said, but after a few seconds his brows were raised.
"No, wait... there is only one Lin Mu that comes to mind in the recent times... the one wanted by the sects and the empire." The king's uncle said.
"Ahah! Uncle, you jest. It's surely not that." The king said upon hearing this for the fear that they might offend Lin Mu.
He was here to offer them help, and they were certainly not going to deny it by just saying things casually.
"No, Adviser Liu is actually right. That is indeed me." Lin Mu admitted.
"This!" The king's eyes went wide and so did his uncles.
They didn't expect it to truly be like this. According to the general thinking, no one would admit them being Lin Mu like this, even when they weren't actually Lin Mu and were just joking. Doing something like that would be problematic and would end up with them in the hands of law.
"How can this be? No... you are surely joking. I've seen the portrait of Lin Mu that they sent out. You look nothing like that. The original Lin Mu disguised as a young boy but was actually an old cultivator." The king's adviser replied.
"Oh, that's one of the least problematic things they made up about me." Lin Mu stated.
It was now that the two disciples thought they should speak up.
"There is a lot more hidden than meets the eye King Hong, Adviser Liu. Senior Lin Mu is telling the truth and even our sect has had our doubts about all that has been happening recently." Hua San stated.
"Indeed. Please hear out senior Lin Mu and then you can decide on your own." Hua Wu added.
Hearing the two disciples also pleading on Lin Mu's behalf, the king still felt doubtful, but knew that it was worth listening to it at the very least.
"Alright, please go ahead and explain to us." The King finally said.
The King's uncle also decided to hold his tongue and decided to listen in.
"Very well..." Lin Mu said before explaining the entire series of events from the start while omitting things that should not be said, of course. Two entire hours passed by and the king and the adviser listened closely.
Learning more about Gu Yao and his ability to control others made them shiver involuntarily. To them, Gu Yao being able to control the Zither Wind sect and the entire alliance meant that they were mere fishes on a chopping block if Gu Yao truly decided to target them.
When Lin Mu was finally finished, the king and his uncle took Deep breaths. This time though, the first one to speak was the king's uncle.
"How can we truly believe you? You must understand what you are saying goes against all that the top sects and the empire are saying." Adviser Liu spoke.
"I know... and that is exactly why Gu Yao's plan is incredibly nefarious. He is making the sects and empire target each other while the Northern Tribes take this opportunity to infiltrate the empire secretly.
In the months that I've been investigating this now, I have seen signs of Gu Yao's interference in many places, but yet I haven't seen the Northern tribe's people. This only makes me wonder where exactly they are and what they have in plan.
But I can tell one thing, if they are hidden for this long and are not acting, they must be waiting for the right opportunity. Perhaps when Gu Yao has the control over most of the powers of the world, they might appear and snuff out the resistance from the remaining.
Now it is up to you whether you want to keep your free will or become the pawns of Gu Yao as well." Lin Mu explained.
Silence descended in the room for about five minutes, in which no one spoke. Unlike the two disciples who had seen the undercurrents of the events happening through the lens of their sect, the King and his adviser didn't have access to information such as what Lin Mu had brought forward.
In fact, they didn't even know the proper history of the continent and about the existence of the Jing clan, and how they were once one of the strongest powers of the world.
Lin Mu was observing the two the entire time and realized that they weren't fully believing him even now.
"Seeing as how Gu Yao works, I'm pretty sure there is already someone in your kingdom's higher ups that are being controlled as well." Lin Mu stated.
Hearing this adviser Liu furrowed his brows and spoke, "that is a tall assumption to make brother Lin Mu."
Chapter 709 - Doubts Over Lin Mu
Accusations as what Lin Mu had made could not be taken lightly and if were taken as false, could bring a lot of problems. But the same could be said if what Lin Mu said turned out to be true.
It would mean that the Hong Lin kingdom was already compromised and perhaps puppets, in the hands of a second party. It was not a good feeling for a king to experience and could even be said to be a bit humiliating.
"What if I can prove it?" Lin Mu asked.
"Hmm... but didn't you say that the people being controlled by Gu Yao couldn't be differentiated? If they were, the top sects should have been able to tell something was wrong, shouldn't they?" Adviser Liu questioned.
"Of course, that is true for most people. In order to be able to tell if someone is being controlled, you would have to know the source aura of the Human Controlling Blood curse. And this source aura could only come from none other than Gu Yao.
Now if no one has seen the man, they would be unable to tell if someone they meet is being controlled by Gu Yao or not, since they would have no standard to match it with. But I've personally seen and fought Gu Yao before.
There is also the additional restriction that one needs to be in the Nascent soul realm to be able to sense it as well. I admit I was unable to do this back when I was at the core condensation realm but now I can." Lin Mu answered.
The king thought for a bit before speaking again.
"Let's say for argument's sake, I believe you and your words. Who do you think is being controlled in my kingdom and how would you prove it?" The King questioned.
"Before I met you today, I did some investigations on my own." Lin Mu said, making up an excuse.
He had of course, done them, but it was different from normal. He had actually spied on them. He couldn't tell the king and his adviser that he sneaked into the law enforcement department and looked through their records, and neither could he tell them that he had seen through their repository.
"And the person I have my suspicions about is Minister of Law, Fu Delun." Lin Mu stated.
"Fu Delun?! That's impossible." Adviser Liu said outright.
"If you bring him here, I assure you that I'll be able to verify my claims." Lin Mu stated. "And if not... I'll let you arrest me. I'm pretty sure King Hong can activate the formation arrays of the palace at any time." He added.
"Senior! This... you can't do this." Hua San was surprised at the level of risk that Lin Mu was willing to take.
Though he was unaware that Lin Mu wasn't really at any risk right now. There were very few people who could fight Lin Mu now and if he wanted to escape, they would not be able to stop him either.
The king looked at Lin Mu deeply and then turned to his uncle.
"Call minster Fu Delun... let's get to the bottom of it." He ordered.
Adviser Liu seemed to be a bit unconvinced, but he still nodded his head.
"As you wish, your majesty," Adviser Liu stated.
He then took out a communication jade slip and contacted the minister of Law. The man in question was somewhere Lin Mu had not seen yet. Since last time, Lin Mu had not come to the central district, though upon seeing the way how the office of law enforcement was working, he was truly suspicious.
Even in the records of Hei corps that he had found in the repository, Lin Mu had learned that the arrest and hunt were all done under the orders of the Fu Delun. Normally, this would be what the minister would only do for high profile criminals.
But what stood out was the fact that the man had personally gone out of his way to find and capture the 'culprits'. Those were the things written in the records. Lin Mu had not thought much of it at first, but then seeing the state of the poor head of the law enforcement department, Lin Wu wondered if something else was wrong.
He went over the information gathered over and over again and started to make links. He recalled the mismanagement in the law enforcement officers and how the information was a bit misplaced.
This lead him to believe that perhaps all of this was done intentionally. From the memoirs of the Lost immortal, Lin Mu had learned that one of the best ways to defeat a country was to weaken its internal systems first.
No matter how much military power they might have, if their own house was in disarray, there was little they would be able to do. Then, thinking of Gu Yao's methods of working, Lin Mu realized that this is something he would obviously do.
The Hong Lin Kingdom was known for its Hong Lin trees and the more old ones of these were certainly quite useful in several things. Lin Mu reckoned that Gu Yao wanted a part of this too and decided to bring this plan.
Lin Mu even wondered if what Gu Yao did here was thought on the side as a little extra project. Because if he truly wanted to take over this place, it wouldn't even take the man a single day.
'He does want the resources here, but it's not that urgent to him. But if he is doing it right now, it means that he will be needing them in the future. It is best if I can prevent that from ever happening.' This was Lin Mu's conclusion.
Now all that was left was for Lin Mu to wait for Fu Delun to appear and see if he truly was being controlled.. Lin Mu knew that there were better ways he could have gone about this and prepared, but for now, this was all he had and could do.
Chapter 710 - Secret Sabotage
Lin Mu and the rest ended up waiting, or about thirty minutes before Fu Delun actually appeared. Lin Mu could tell that King Hong and Adviser Liu had stern appearances on their faces upon seeing the time required for the man to appear.
Lin Mu looked to the entrance of the empty court and saw the minister of Law appear. The man was about six feet tall and wore the uniform robes of a court official along with his designation, which was imprinted as the crest on his robe 'Minster of Law'.
The man had a long mustache with no beard and had broad eyes. Lin Mu couldn't tell anything from him directly, but the moment he used his spirit sense he knew it... there were traces of the Human Controlling Blood curse on him.
Lin Mu kept his cool though and didn't show any change in expression on his face. He didn't know the details of how Gu Yao communicated with the people he controlled. He knew that he had to verbally give them commands, but the exact methodology over long distances was unknown.
Even the information that Lin Mu got from Wu Hei back then was not fully accurate as Wu Hei's scope of action was reduced to the Shuang Qian Kingdom and thus he never got to come in contact with the more complex operations.
According to the theories Lin Mu, Jing Luo, and senior Xukong had come up with, they were most likely using communication jade slips to do it. And that was exactly what could make it very difficult for them.
If someone was found out that they were working for Gu Yao and managed to send out a message, their entire plan might end up failing due to Gu Yao becoming aware of them and directly acting against them.
Lin Mu certainly didn't want that to happen and already had made a few plans about what to do with people such as those. The first thing Lin Mu did after confirming the fact that the minister was truly controlled by Gu Yao was to see where his communication jade slip was.
Normally, cultivators hung it on their waists, but some also had custom ones made for them, which were in the form of bracelets and pendants. In the case of Fu Delun, Lin Mu quickly spotted it on the left side of his waist.
But this was just one of the communication jade slips. While most cultivators only had one communication jade slip, some of the more affluent ones will keep more than one in case of emergencies.
After all, the problem with keeping communication jade slips on their bodies was that they could break during a battle or get lost. And while communication jade slips were hard in themselves while also having reinforcement formations on them, strong attacks could still break them.
These extra communication jade slips would, of course, be kept in the spatial storage treasures of that cultivator. While they could be of various forms and hid on one's body, to Lin Mu this was the easiest part to control.
Lin Mu easily sensed the two spatial storage treasures the man had on him. One of them was the ring on his left hand, and the other was a pendant hidden underneath his robes.
'Hmm... one low grade spatial storage treasure and one... mid grade one? I doubt even a minister should be able to obtain a mid grade spatial storage treasure... this is definitely suspicious.' Lin Mu thought to himself.
Within three seconds of seeing the minister, Lin Mu had already obtained the facts that were needed for him.
"This might be the best time for you to try out that trick I showed you before. At your skill level, you should be able to execute it... and even if you don't it will still be fine in this situation." Xukong suddenly spoke.
Xukong had actually been watching the entire series of events for the past few hours. He had decided to take a break from cultivating to see how his disciple takes care of the current situation.
Hearing Xukong's words, Lin Mu understood what he was talking about. Lin Mu had a hunch that he would be able to destroy or break spatial storage treasures if he wanted to a long time ago, but he had never actually gotten to do it.
While he could have figured it out on his own at one point, Xukong showed him a faster trick to do the same.
"I understand, senior." Lin Mu said and focused on the two spatial storage tools using his spatial perception.
The first one he targeted was the low grade spatial storage tool, which was none other than the ring Fu Delun was wearing. Then, Lin Mu's spirit sense condensed into a very fine thread before shooting towards the ring.
There, it quickly met with the formations on the spatial storage rings while avoiding alerting the man. The formations Lin Mu was targeting were not the surface one, but the deeper ones that interacted with the space directly.
Usually, these were buried deep within the formation array to protect them, but this also made it difficult for most average cultivators to sense them. Thus, when they got damaged, one would not know until it was too late.
'There!' Lin Mu found the node he wanted and attacked it with his spirit sense.
A wave of spatial fluctuation arose from it and impacted the ring. The formations within the ring subtly changed, but the surface stayed the same.
'Success! Just the second one left now.' Lin Mu thought to himself.
By the time he was done with the ring, Fu Delun had reached the end of the court where Lin Mu and the rest were sitting. Fu Delun had of course, noticed Lin Mu and the other two Nascent Soul realm cultivators and was a bit confused.
He could sense their cultivation bases and was a bit unnerved, but seeing the king sitting there calmly, he didn't panic either.
"To what do I owe this visit, King Hong?" Fu Delun questioned.