~yawn~
"How long has it been?" Lin Mu yawned while entrenching his arms.
"Two days." Little Shrubby, who had not moved from his position from the start, spoke.
"Ah, two days… guess I really was tired." Lin Mu muttered to himself.
He checked his Dantian and saw that the spirit Qi had mostly recovered in this time, though his vitally was yet to fully be replenished.
"Need to eat." Lin Mu spoke and looked at Little Shrubby.
"On it!" Little Shrubby immediately got to work.
In less than thirty minutes, a large cauldron full of stew was prepared while on another grill, a slab of meat was being roasted.
"Looks good!" Lin Mu said, seeing the meal.
The aroma and taste was just to his liking and he spent no time waiting. Ten minutes later, not even bones were left behind while the cauldron looked as if it had been polished clean from the inside.
"Haaa~" Lin Mu let out a breath of fulfillment. "That was a satisfying meal." He said.
He could sense his vitality being rapidly replenished as his stomach got to work and quickly assimilated everything. The remaining bit of the spirit Qi was also topped off by the meal and Lin Mu was back to his optimum condition.
'Guess I should check up on others… the tribes should make their moves soon.' Lin Mu thought to himself.
But before moving, he first took out the jade slip and checked for any messages on it. Quickly going through them all, Lin Mu found several of them. Almost everyone that knew Lin Mu had sent him a message.
They either congratulated him on his success, or talked about the ongoing events and preparation for the incoming war.
Then finally there was Jing Luo's message, telling him to come meet with him to discuss the final plans.
"Let's head to Jing Luo, little Shrubby." Lin Mu spoke.
"Okay~" Little Shrubby responded.
Getting onto his back, the two of them reached the teleportation gates in less than two minutes. There, Lin Mu took the gate that went to the Shuang Qian kingdom's border and walked out.
"Alliance leader Lin Mu!" There were a few guards waiting for him already.
Looking at them, Lin Mu recognized them to be from the Black dune sect as they all wore their robes.
"Elder Jing Luo and Senior Wu Hei are waiting for you at the capital." One of the guards informed.
"Mm… anything else I should know?" Lin Mu inquired.
"The Shuang Qian capital was in chaos until a while ago. The First prince and King have died two days ago under 'mysterious' conditions and Senior Wu Hei has stabilized it for now." The guard spoke.
"I see… thank you for the information." Lin Mu said before flying out of the hidden outpost with Little Shrubby.
A lot of the outposts that hid these gates needed to have their exits expanded due to Little Shrubby, as he could not fit through a lot of them before. All outposts now had large exits or had secondary ones that could be opened for the beast. Though since Little Shrubby had the ability to shrink down, it wasn't of much use now.
Lin Mu and Little Shrubby quickly flew to the capital while Lin Mu took this opportunity to scan the area they passed over.
'Doesn't seem like there are any more traces of the invader here… and neither is there anyone with the Human Controlling Blood curse's aura here either.' Lin Mu thought to himself.
One of the biggest concerns he had about Gu Yao was whether the people that were under his control would be free or not. It was possible that the curse might have some unknown effect.
And hearing that the king and prince of the Shuang Qian kingdom had died under mysterious conditions, Lin Mu was inclined on the bad option.
'If the curse really kills those that were under it after the death of Gu Yao, then it'll make things difficult.' Lin Mu thought to himself.
He was concerned about Wu Hei since his elder brother Wu Teng was still under the effect of the Human Controlling Blood curse the last time he had talked to him. If he had died as well, then things would probably be bad.
An hour passed before Lin Mu and Little Shrubby finally reached the capital of the Shuang Qian kingdom.
Though when he entered it, a lot of shouts and cries were heard.
"WHAT'S THAT!"
"A BEAST!"
"A BEAST HAS COME TO ATTACK THE CITY!"
"RUN!!!"
The citizens of the city were startled and scared upon seeing Little Shrubby, and it would be rightfully so. After all, Little Shrubby was far too massive to be considered a tamed beast at this point.
While the cultivators in the Shuang Qian city capital had their own pet beasts, none of them were this big. Usually beasts even quarter this size were at the Nascent soul realm and above thus couldn't really be tamed according to the normal thinking.
Then there was also the fact that due to Little Shrubby's size, Lin Mu couldn't be seen sitting on his back either.
Even the guards of the city were stunned upon seeing it and couldn't move. These guards were cultivators and could easily sense that the beast in the sky was no normal beast. There was no way they would be able to fight this beast or even protect anyone.
But much to the shock of the citizens, the beast didn't stop in the sky for more than a few seconds. It quickly went to a particular mansion located at the back of the aristocratic district.
"Huh? It's not going to attack?" The people were confused after a minute, seeing there were no loud explosions or screams.
Lin Mu and Little Shrubby who were the center of attention, didn't really care for it and Lin Mu simply wanted to do the task at hand. And he didn't think he needed to hide anymore either, since Gu Yao was no more.
"You're finally here!" A voice was heard coming from the mansion just as Lin Mu landed in front of it.
