Chapter 3: 701-705
Chapter 701 - Granting A Meeting
The Junior brother looked at the mountain and then at the senior brother.
"Senior brother, should we... ask the man... no, Senior for help?" The junior brother questioned.
But the senior brother didn't answer right away and stayed silent as if thinking about it.
"Senior brother, you've seen how this senior is proficient in the formations. He must be a great formation master. Where else would we find someone that can do all this? Even if we go to your friend in the Long Cloud sect, we have no guarantee that they would be available to do that.
Plus, the time needed to travel back and forth will be more than fifteen days. And even if we manage to convince your friend, I doubt they would be able to set up a tribulation accentuation fomentation array that quickly.
This senior seems like our best choice." The junior brother pleaded.
~Sigh~
"Fine... we will try. But we will not bother him. He has no obligation to help us and seeing his skill and cultivation base, I doubt he is anyone without a background." The senior brother stated.
"Yes. Of course, the final decision about accepting our request is up to him. But I guess we can try." The junior brother replied.
"Alright, let's go and see if he is willing to help us. Don't talk and let me speak first." The senior brother ordered.
The two of them then flew to the base of the mountain and cupped their hands while bowing their heads.
"We two are disciples from the Noon grass sect and couldn't help but notice the senior's great skill in formations. Can the senior please grant us audience?" the senior brother asked in a humble tone.
His voice was normal, yet it managed to reach all across the mountain. While they were doing this, inside the cave of the mountain, something else was happening.
~shua~
A man appeared out of the ground and looked at another man who was standing at the entrance of the cave while gazing out. The man who had appeared was none other than Lin Mu of course, while the other being Jing Luo.
"They took the bait. It actually went far better than expected." Lin Mu spoke.
"Good. Since they are the ones asking us for a request, we will now have an upper hand." Jing Luo replied.
"Should we let them enter?" Lin Mu asked.
"Not so fast... let them wait a few more minutes." Jing Luo replied.
***
"He hasn't responded yet... is he in seclusion already?" The junior brother asked his senior brother.
"Hmm... it has been an hour since he entered it. I doubt he would start this fast as he would need to set up more things inside the abode." The senior brother replied.
"Then is he perhaps ignoring us?" The junior brother questioned.
"That could be possible. He doesn't really have an obligation to help us, anyway." The senior brother answered.
"Even the name of our sect doesn't help this..." The junior brother replied.
"Our sect has always been low key and prefers to stay out of conflicts. This also includes any debts and favors. It's usual for other cultivators to not pay much attention to us at this point.
Some normal cultivators might, due to our identity as one of the top sects, but those who know more will probably not care much about it. Plus, this senior definitely has a much higher identity than us." The senior brother explained.
Hearing this, the junior brother nodded his head.
"Now that I think of it... doesn't he look younger than us?" The junior brother compared.
"That's another way to confirm that he may actually have a higher rank than us. Even if we are the direct disciples of the sect master, there are many geniuses out there in the world. This is one of the things master, wants you to learn." The senior brother replied.
Despite hearing his senior brother's words, the junior brother couldn't help but feel a tinge of envy from comparing himself to the senior who had made the formation array. To him, the beefy man not only had a higher cultivation base than him and his senior brother, but was also of a younger age.
The two of them looked like they were in their late forties right now, while the beefy man looked to be in his late thirties. While they couldn't confirm his actual age just by this, before one reached the Adult Soul stage of the nascent soul realm, using appearance to judge was still enough.
The junior brother himself was over two hundred years old, while his senior brother was twice as old as that at the age of over four hundred.
Just as the two of them were about to give up, they heard a deep voice come from the mountain.
"Enter!" The voice stated.
The eyes of the junior brother lit up after hearing this, and he looked at the senior brother.
"Seems like we are in luck." The senior brother said. "Let's enter. Best not to keep him waiting."
The two of them then approached the mountain and saw the barrier materialize in front of them. A small door opened up for them and they were able to enter it. Upon entering, they could see the mountain change slightly and the cave which had disappeared was now visible again on the mountainside.
The two of them quickly reached the cave and came to a stop there.
"Senior, may we enter?" the senior brother asked in a polite tone while cupping his hand. His junior brother followed his lead and did the same.
"Come in," Jing Luo said from the inside.
"Thank you senior." The senior brother said and took a step in while his junior followed.
Upon entering, they could see the completely different look of the cave. There were several sets of furniture that had been arranged in a simple, yet elegant manner.
Seeing this, the two felt a bit better since they realized that they weren't being ignored, just that the senior was busy.
Chapter 702 - Hua San And Hua Wu
The two brothers saw Jing Luo sitting at a table while working on something. There were a few components lying around that they couldn't fully identify. The only thing they could tell was that they were of a high quality from the spirit Qi fluctuation that was coming from there.
"Thank you for giving us the chance to talk to you senior." The senior brother spoke.
"Mmmhmm... so who are you two?" Jing Luo questioned.
"I am Hua San and this is my fifth junior brother, Hua Wu. Both of us are direct disciples under sect master Hua of the Noon Grass Sect." The Hua San introduced.
"You took up his surname? He made you his legacy disciples?" Jing Luo asked, finding their names to be same.
"Indeed, senior. All of us were orphans before the sect master took us in from the secular world. We take up his surname to show our eternal gratitude. Our master is our father as well." Hua San answered.
"I see... seems like Sect Master Hua Dan had far more disciples than I thought... I've only ever seen his first disciple named Yi and the second disciple named Er." Jing Luo replied.
"You know eldest senior brother and senior sister?" Hua Wu was surprised.
"Hmmm, I've never met them but I believe my clan did have some interactions a few hundred years ago." Jing Luo spoke, elevating his status in the minds of the two.
"I see..." Hua San muttered, wondering if they had really lucked out today that they met an acquaintance of their master.
"May we know the name of senior?" Hua San questioned.
"I am Jing Luo... Heir of the Jing clan." Jing Luo answered.
"Jing Clan...?" Hua Wu muttered and tried to recall if he could remember the clan.
"THE JING CLAN!?" Hua San was shocked.
"If you mean the great weaponsmith Jing clan, then yes." Jing Luo confirmed.
"This... I never knew..." Hua San said, finding it hard to speak.
Hua Er, seeing his senior brother like this, was also quite surprised. He had not heard of the Jing clan and didn't know their significance. But from his senior brother's tone, he could tell that it was very important.
Hua Er felt curious and wanted to ask about the Jing clan, but knew that doing so while Jing Luo was here might be a bit rude to him. Thus, he kept his silence and decided to ask him later when they were alone.
While Hua San was surprised, Jing Luo was surprised as well. He had not expected that there would still be someone that remembered his clan. Till now they had actually tried to inquire and gather information about the Jing clan, but all of it had come empty.
Even Lin Mu had searched for information on the Jing clan in the Tri cauldron peony sect and the Hong Lin kingdom. He was unable to find the information in either of the places. Just from this, Lin Mu assumed that the information about the Jing clan was far more hidden than they had thought.
Jing Luo didn't know how far the empire had gone in their attempt but knew that the sects must have had a hand in this obviously.
'If someone from the Noon Grass sect knows about my clan, then it means that the Noon Grass sect still maintained records about our clan. If they were involved in the extermination back then, they would have erased all of them.' Jing Luo thought to himself.
He felt like they now had a sect that can be somewhat trusted, even if it was not fully assured and could change any moment, depending on whether Gu Yao manages to take control of others.
~huu~
Jing Luo took a deep breath, pushing aside these thoughts for now. He needed to focus on the task at hand and thus decided to talk.
"So what is it that you wanted to talk about?" Jing Luo questioned.
"Ah yes! We are in a little bit of a problem senior." Hua San replied.
"What kind of a problem?" Jing Luo asked.
"It's like this..." Hua San then started to explain the complication that they had.
He told Jing Luo about their mission and why they came to Hong Lin kingdom and what the king wants. While the information about the King breaking through was confidential, he didn't think it was necessary to hide it from Jing Luo.
After ten minutes, Hua San was finally done speaking, leaving Jing Luo to continue.
"Hmm... so you want someone to make a tribulation attenuation formation for you, so that the king can use it so that you can get the thousand year old Hong Lin wood." Jing Luo summarized.
"Yes senior." Hua San nodded his head.
"If I decided to help, what do I get?" Jing Luo asked.
"Anything within my capabilities, I shall offer senior." Hua San replied hurriedly.
"I'll assist as well." Hua Wu added, not wanting to miss out.
"Hmm... I do need your help with something if you are willing to listen to a problem I have." Jing Luo said.
"Of course! Please do tell senior." Hua San replied.
"Very well... this thing is a bit sensitive and it would be better if you don't let others know about it... for your own safety as well." Jing Luo said, making Hua San furrow his brows.
A serious expression appeared on Hua Wu's face as well and the two disciples decided to listen on.
Jing Luo then explained to them about the threat about Gu Yao and how he has been controlling the sects and even the people from the imperial court. He told them about the truth behind the Zither wind alliance and the northern tribes.
It took Jing Luo two hours to explain it all and the two disciples were shaken after hearing all this.
"No wonder master said not to interact with those from the sects asking for an alliance..." Hua San muttered in shock.
Chapter 703 - Agreement With The Two Disciples
Hearing that the sect master of the Noon Grass sect was wary about the actions of the other top sect, Jing Luo was a bit intrigued.
"Sect Master Hua knows about this?" Jing Luo asked.
"I don't exactly know how much he knows, as even we don't know. All that he to us before leaving was to not get involved with the sects that are asking us to join their alliances and to keep away from them.
I never knew there was such a problem behind it." Hua San replied.
"I see... Sect master Hua certainly has a great foresight to be able to see the problems even when the top three sects could not." Jing Luo said with a sigh.
Hua San and Hua Wu didn't speak and waited for Jing Luo to continue.
"Alright... I can help you guys out as long as you can contract sect master Hua and tell him about Gu Yao. You should be able to tell that this matter involves the entire world and can lead to a lot of people dying." Jing Luo stated.
"Of course, senior. This can actually be considered a favor from you to us. By telling us this, you may have just saved our sect perhaps." San Hua spoke.
"We shall certainly inform master about this. Currently, we can't contact him since we are too far from the set, but once we return we shall definitely do so." Hua Wu added.
"Ah, yes. You do not have a high grade communication jade slip, do you?" Jing Luo questioned.
"Yes, we don't. I think in the entire sect, only the supreme elder and master have one. They are far too rare for us to be able to get one." Hua San said with a little embarrassment.
"Well then, here you go." Jing Luo said before handing two jade slips to the disciples.
"Huh? High grade communication Jade Slips!?" The two disciples were shocked upon seeing this.
They had never expected that they would just get one like this. And it was not just a single one, but two, one for each of them. One must know that even if a communication jade slip was also a spirit tool and that it would not be that hard for them to get a high grade spirit tool from the sect, jade slips were still hard to make.
The higher the grade, the more difficult it was to make them. But there was also the matter of the components required for it; they were simply far to difficult to find and expensive to use since they could be destroyed if the production failed.
This was the reason why high grade communication jade slips were even rarer than the other high grade spirit tools and weapons.
As for peak grade communication jade slips?
It was said that a peak grade communication jade slip would work no matter where someone was in the world.
"My communication jade slip is linked to those two, so once you link that with your masters, we will be able to communicate." Jing Luo spoke.
"We shall do that then, senior." Hua San replied.
"Before I get to making the tribulation attenuation formation though, there is one more person you should meet." Jing Luo spoke.
"Oh? Who is it?" Hua San asked.
Originally, Lin Mu and Jing Luo had wanted to talk a bit more with the two disciples and thought that they would need to do a lot more convincing. But everything had gone much easier and there was no need for Lin Mu to come in with his planned act at all.
And since that was out of the way, Lin Mu had no chance to appear and was still listening to the entire thing while hidden in the walls. Of course, he couldn't appear directly out of the walls upon being called, as it would seem inappropriate and work against the act they had done till now.
Thus, Lin Mu waited for Jing Luo to contact him using the communication jade slip.
The two disciples looked outside the cave as they suddenly felt a presence outside. There were spirit Qi fluctuations coming from there and they could tell that they were at the Nascent soul realm as well.
~gulp~
Finally, they saw a handsome man enter the cave. He was far younger than them and looked to be barely twenty years old. But the spirit Qi fluctuations coming from his body showed that he was no less powerful than Jing Luo here.
"Greetings senior!" The two of them hurriedly cupped their hands, realizing that it was another strong person.
"Greetings, I am Lin Mu." He introduced himself.
"Come sit. We'll talk for a bit." Jing Luo said and quickly explained the situation to him.
Even though Lin Mu knew about it already, they needed to do so to keep up the act. They were too far in and could not break it anymore. Thankfully, Jing Luo was able to wind it up in just five minutes.
"I see... well, I'm in agreement with everything and am thankful that you two are willing to talk to the sect master on our behalf." Lin Mu spoke.
"It is fine, senior Lin Mu. We shall do our best." Hua San said.
"Though, you two are also looking for Thousand year old Hong Lin trees like us." Lin Mu spoke. "I guess we can join up in finding them." He added.
"Seniors are looking for them too? Do you want the wood as well?" Hua Wu questioned.
"Well... Jing Luo wants the sap of thousand year old Hong Lin trees, but I just want the living trees themselves." Lin Mu answered.
"Hmm... we tried searching but couldn't really come up with any clues other than asking the king's chief adviser. While they do have the thousand year old Hong Lin wood in their reserve storage, I don't know if it is enough." Hua San spoke.
"I know. That's why I have been searching for them myself as well.." Lin Mu replied.
Chapter 704 - Clarifications
Hearing that Lin Mu and Jing Luo were looking for thousand year old Hong Lin wood as well, the two disciples were surprised. They even felt that they might have a little bit of a competition when it came to that now.
"Senior wants thousand year old Hong Lin Wood as well? Why?" Hua San questioned.
"Well, not thousand year old Hong Lin Wood itself. Jing Luo needs the sap of thousand year old Hong Lin trees, while I need the actual living tree." Lin Mu explained.
"Ah, I see." Hua San said, feeling a bit relieved.
He thought at least this way they wouldn't have a complete clash.
"Though getting thousand year old Hong Lin tree sap would be difficult. It can only be extracted when the tree is alive and even then it is quite hard to keep for long periods of time.
I don't think even the Hong Lin kingdom has any in storage." Hua San spoke.
"Yeah, I guessed that. That's why we prefer finding an actual living tree." Lin Mu replied.
"Hmm.. But why does senior need a living tree? Are you going to make something from it as well?" Hua San asked.
"I don't want it for making anything. Rather, I want it for a cultivation technique I practice." Lin Wu informed.
"Oh? That's something I didn't know was possible." Hua San spoke, feeling truly surprised.
"Are there even cultivation techniques that use it? What are they even used for?" Hua Wu asked.
"Well, it's a fire elemental cultivation technique and as you may know the Hong Lin trees are abundant in fire attribute spirit Qi. While I can use hundred year old Hong Lin trees as well, as my technique progresses further, I'll need at least one thousand year old Hong Lin tree to complete it." Lin Mu explained.
He didn't really feel uncomfortable telling them about this, since they couldn't really do much with it. Even if they knew that it was a body cultivating technique, they would be helpless as they would have to first complete all thirteen stages of the body tempering realm and obtain a Xiantian physique before they could even begin with the Five Treasures realm.
When the first king of the Hong Lin empire made their technique, he had only made it as a body tempering realm technique, which switched to a normal Qi cultivation technique when one reached the eighth stage of the body tempering realm.
This same technique would allow them to absorb spirit Qi from the trees and boost their speed of cultivation. This was a fire element spirit Qi cultivation technique and would allow the cultivator to get fire elemental spirit Qi for use.
Lin Mu though, could not use the spirit Qi aspect of this technique since he didn't cultivate spirit Qi directly using a cultivation technique. Senior Xukong had told him to continue following the primordial path, and that was what he was doing.
Lin Mu absorbed spirit Qi naturally with the pathways he had learned himself and they were the most appropriate for him. Naturally, he would not switch to a cultivation technique that was inferior and had a slower speed.
Thankfully, Lin Mu was merely using it for five treasures realm cultivation and didn't really care for the spirit Qi aspect.
"Hopefully we are able to find them so senior can practice his cultivation technique." Hua Wu stated.
"Mmhmm... I think if we look long enough we will find it." Lin Mu said.
This was true since it was only a matter of time till they found a thousand year old Hong Lin tree. With Little Shrubby manually looking around at his speed, it was quite likely for them to find it.
If needed, Little Shrubby could literally scan every inch of the Hong Lin forest to find some thousand year old Hong Lin trees. Lin Mu had currently refined 43% of his heart and needed a lot more before he could reach the peak.
He knew that eventually, he would need a Thousand year old Hong Lin tree as every use of a hundred year old Hong Lin tree, lesser the amount of vital essence that was obtained by him.
While the normal Hong Lin trees won't even make a difference. The normal Hong Lin trees that were younger than hundred years were only useful for cultivators that were in the Body tempering realm.
"By the way, have you two chosen a location for the tribulation attenuation platform, or perhaps the king has chosen one?" Jing Luo questioned.
"No, he hasn't specified anything. They only told us that they want one. I reckon they should be fine with any place as long as it has a tribulation attenuation platform. They can't really be choosy with the location since even a single use Tribulation attenuation platform has very specific requirements." Hua San answered.
"I see..." Jing Luo muttered, not telling them that he could make one essentially anywhere to save him some work.
"How about this mountain itself?" Jing Luo asked after thinking for a bit.
"It would actually be quite good!" Hua San said. "Not only does senior have the other illusory formations set up, the location is also distant enough that the entire session should be a bit private."
"Indeed. I'll get to working then. You guys can talk with Lin Mu and do other things." Jing Luo replied.
"Oh yeah! Speaking of the king, we would like to meet him as well." Lin Mu spoke.
"Meet the king?" Hua San asked.
"Why would you want that?" Hua Wu felt a bit confused.
The two of them thought that Lin Mu and Jing Luo were intentionally concealing themselves from the king and that's why they were here so far away.
"For the same reason that I wanted to talk with Sect master Hua... Gu Yao. We'd like to inform them and see if they are willing to join our cause. Plus... I'd like to clarify some things with them as well.." Lin Mu explained.
Chapter 705 - Back To The Hong Lin Capital
Having heard Lin Mu's words, Hua San and Hua Wu couldn't really reject them. They were reasonable requests and besides, if Lin Mu and Jing Luo were to go to the royal palace, they would be willingly given an audience with a king.
Their cultivation base gave them the authority to ask for such a thing. Though the only reason why Lin Mu hadn't done, that was because he was unsure if Gu Yao had his spies here as well.
But now that he knew about the situation of the Noon Grass sect and how they have been careful since the start, they reckoned it would be fine. Plus, Lin Mu himself had spied on their records and could tell that the Hong Lin kingdom was still relatively safe.
Even though Lin Mu had some doubts, he felt a bit more confident in himself that he would be able to resolve any problem that came with his cultivation base. He was no longer the weak Qi refining realm cultivator that had barely been able to stand against Gu Yao; he was now an Adolescent Soul stage Nascent Soul realm cultivator.
Lin Mu also had the confidence that he would be able to fight Gu Yao in an open fight and even defeat them. But that was the very problem; Gu Yao would never do this unless it was the final option he had.
The old man liked to scheme and control others, as could be seen from the skills he used. This was why he was someone even more dangerous than someone who was at the Dao Treading realm.
After all, Gu Yao himself had at least one cultivator that was at the Dao Treading realm in his control and multiple Dao shell realm and Nascent soul realm cultivators.
So far, Lin Mu hadn't felt the presence of anyone being controlled in this kingdom. He had felt the full aura of Gu Yao and the effect his human controlling blood curse had. At first, Lin Mu couldn't really differentiate them.
But now that he had reached the Nascent Soul realm, his sensitivity had increased and he was able to tell the difference. In fact, any Nascent Soul realm cultivator would be able to do the same for granted they had felt the aura of Gu Yao himself.
This was also the reason why he hid himself somewhere and refused to come out, using others to do his bidding instead. This way, no one would see him and sense his aura, thus making it close to impossible for others to figure out others were being controlled.
Lin Mu reckoned other than him, only Wu Hei should be able to do this. After all, the man was also under the control of Gu Yao temporarily, but had managed to break free due to his bloodline and the cultivation technique.
"Hmm... if senior Lin Mu wants a meeting with the King we can ask him right away. After all, Senior Jing Luo is setting up the tribulation attenuation platform and this would be something the king and his adviser would be happy to hear." Hua San stated.
"Very well then. I guess we can head out now." Lin Mu spoke.
"Sure senior." Hua San replied.
"Contact me if anything happens. I'll get to work in the meantime." Jing Luo added.
"Alright." Lin Mu said and the three men flew away.
~shua~
The two men had a bit of a hard time catching up to Lin Mu's speed, thus Lin Mu had to intentionally slow down.
'If I really went at my full speed using blink, they won't even be able to see me at that point...' Lin Mu thought to himself.
The comparison was enough to make him a bit happy, as it meant that he would be able to stand his ground against even stronger cultivators or multiple weaker cultivators with ease.
The three men flew for about an hour before they finally reached the Hong Lin Kingdom's capital.
"Let's walk from here. Better to not attract extra attention." Hua San said.
"Is that fine with you, senior?" Hua Wu asked.
Some cultivators would find it offensive that they needed to walk like commoners and thus they thought it was appropriate to ask.
"Oh yes. I am of the same thought as you. It's better to be low key for now." Lin Mu replied.
Hua San found Lin Mu to be even better now that he heard this, and Lin Mu's image in his heart rose up by a bit. The three men made their way through the city, weaving through crowds of people.
"Is it just me or are there a lot more people out today?" Lin Mu questioned.
Hua San furrowed his brows and looked around, finding it to be really more crowded.
"It does seem to be more crowded than before..." Hua San replied.
"AH! I remember, it's nearly the time for the Autumn festival!" Hua Wu suddenly spoke.
"It is?" Lin Mu asked.
"Yes. While many kingdoms have the Autumn festival, it is especially more important in the Hong Lin kingdom. Since Autumn signifies the end of summer and the change in weather to winter, it also signifies the fall of the fire element.
Since the Hong Lin kingdom reveres Hong Lin trees, they bid farewell to fire at the end of Autumn. Plus the leaves of Hong Lin trees that are naturally red become even more vibrant in Autumn before they start to fall." Hua Wu explained.
"I see..." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Looks like you researched quite a bit before coming here." Lin Mu added.
"Indeed, it is my first time leaving the sect in thirty years. Master prohibited me from leaving the sect unless I reached the Nascent Soul realm." Hua Wu explained.
Hearing the stringent requirement, Lin Mu was a bit astounded.
'Huh... didn't know sect would put such restrictions on their disciples.' Lin Mu thought to himself.
"Oh, there are far more than just these. You will see many peculiar conditions later on.." Xukong chimed in.
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