"Where is your commanding captain?" Lin Mu questioned right away.
"What business do you have with the commander?" the guards asked.
"Yeah, without an appointment, no one can enter." The other guard said.
Lin Mu looked at the two guards with a calm expression.
'They're certainly nervous… but what might be the reason behind it?' Lin Mu wondered before he spread his spirit sense.
It quickly scanned the tent behind them and revealed all that was hidden in it.
"Oh, so your commanding captain is not here at all." Lin Mu said.
"H-how do you know that?!" the guards were stunned.
"Why don't you tell me where your commanding captain went and why is the camp half empty?" Lin Mu questioned.
"W-we have no obligation to do that." The guards said.
"Oh, but you do. I'm here under the authority of minister Wu, and if you do not comply sufficient punishment shall be dealt." Lin Mu replied.
He didn't want to use force with these guards, who weren't even cultivators and were simply doing their duty.
'They are afraid of something, that's for sure.' Lin Mu thought to himself.
Lin Mu even took out the command token and showed it to the guards, startling them.
"It really is minister Wu!" The guards were scared now.
"Now then, tell me everything." Lin Mu ordered.
~THUD~
The two guards immediately fell to their knees.
"PLEASE FORGIVE US LORD!" The guards pleaded. "The commander forced us to stay here and turn everyone away."
"Oh? And where did he go?" Lin Mu asked.
"He… didn't tell us. But before he left, a man and a few people had come to visit him. He left after meeting them just a few minutes after that. He told us to stay here, while he took a part of the soldiers with him." The guards quickly replied.
'There's no doubt these guards were left behind as sacrifices. There's no way the commanding captain wouldn't have known that someone would come to check up eventually.' Lin Mu reckoned.
"And which direction did the captain's head towards?" Lin Mu asked.
"He left from the eastern gate." The guards replied.
"Alright," Lin Mu let the guards go.
He scanned the entire town with his spirit sense one last time, checking to see if there was anything suspicious here, but found nothing.
Lin Mu took out the jade slip and contacted Wu Hei to tell him what he had learned.
"Figures… it should have been one of the princes. They probably didn't have any guards and might have bribed the commanding captain to protect them while they escaped." Wu Hei said.
"I see… do I need to do anything?" Lin Mu asked.
"No need. They'll be declared as deserters later and the prince who took them will also be punished." Wu Hei replied.
"Okay, I'll leave then." Lin Mu stated.
"Mmhmm, farewell. I'll be having a meeting with the alliance soon enough." Wu Hei said at the end.
Done with this, Lin Mu flew up and headed north. The two of them traveled fast and soon reached Wu Lim city.
'The destruction is still here.' Lin Mu observed the destroyed area of the city. Around forty percents of the city's buildings were in ruins while the rest were becoming destitute. The current population of Wu Lim city was barely a quarter of the original.
Scanning the entire place with his spirit sense, Lin Mu checked to see if there was anything suspicious left here. After all, this was the original hideout of the Gu Legion and where Gu Yao had hidden.
But after checking the area, he saw that the underground caves had already collapsed and there was nothing left.
"Even with the destruction as a cost, at least there are no traces of an invader here." Lin Mu muttered to himself.
Flying past it, Lin Mu soon arrived at the Northern town. His hometown had become a lot more quaint. The hustle and bustle that was usually present at this time was not present either.
It was nearly the end of autumn and it was harvest season for the spirit apples. Lin Mu's spirit sense reached the orchards and saw the workers harvesting the spirit apples.
A slightly sorrowful expression appeared on Lin Mu's face before he thought of something. He directly flew to the orchards and landed at the place where the supervision usually sat.
His arrival was met with great surprise as the supervisor could clearly tell that Lin Mu was at least a Nascent soul realm cultivator, as he could fly on his own.
"W-what brings you here Senior!?" The Supervisor who was unknown to Lin Mu, asked after hurriedly cupping his hands.
The other servants and guards standing around quickly bowed their heads as well. They could obviously see that even their supervisor was greatly respectful to Lin Mu.
"I just came for a little visit." Lin Mu casually said as he looked at the trees.
The faint fragrance of the spirit apples was lingering in the air and provided a calming feeling to Lin Mu.
But a few seconds later, his brows furrowed.
"Why are there so few spirit apples this time?" Lin Mu asked.
His spirit sense had checked the storage warehouse and found it to be nearly empty.
"Um… A Young Lord from the capital came by two days ago with many soldiers. They forced us to give our harvested stock and left soon after. Even after protesting that our yield this time was low, they didn't relent and took it all." The supervisor honestly said.
Lin Mu's brows furrowed even more after hearing this as a few links formed in his mind.
"My lord, by any chance were you sent by the capital? I sent a complaint soon after the Young lord had left." The supervisor asked.
'It shouldn't be this quick though, right?' the supervisor wondered.
"Hmm… you could say that." Lin Mu said before turning to the supervisor.
"Little Shrubby, get all the apples down from the trees." Lin Mu spoke, much to the supervisors confusion which soon turned into shock.
