The supervisor didn't even see when the small cat on Lin Mu's shoulder disappeared and multiple metal hands appeared out of nowhere. The hands flew around the orchard, startling the workers.
"AAAH!" several workers screamed.
"What was that?!" they cried out.
~SHUA~
The metal hands were too fast for their eyes to accurately grasp. But what they did see was the trees shaking and leaves falling off.
"Look! The apples! The spirit apples are disappearing!" someone pointed.
The others looked and truly saw the trees getting bare. One by one, they started to lose their apples. Till a few moments ago, at least half of the trees were still filled with apples, but now only a quarter were left.
"What in the…" The supervisor was left stunned as a pile of spirit apples started forming nearby.
In less than two minutes, all the spirit apples had been plucked, and the trees were now bare.
~thud~thud~thud~
The servants watching it all, fell to the ground in shock. This was the fastest they had ever seen the harvest being completed. They were sure that it would take them at least another twenty days to finish harvesting all the spirit apples, but it was completed in barely two minutes.
"There we go." Lin Mu said, feeling satisfied.
"All done!" Little Shrubby said upon appearing on his shoulder again.
The supervisor looked at Lin Mu and was at a loss for words. "M-my… My lord… this…"
The workers of the orchard also approached the supervisor's post, intending to inform of the disappearance of the spirit apples, but then saw the large pile of spirit apples there.
"Sir Supervisor! The spirit apples all disappeared!" The voice of another man was heard from behind.
Since there were a lot of workers surrounding the post, the pile of spirit apples couldn't be seen by him.
"Let me through!" The man said while pushing the others and made his way to the front.
"Sir Supervision! The spirit app—" But before the man could repeat himself he saw the large pile.
"W-what? H-how?" The man was now the same as the supervisor.
But what he didn't realize that there was a person looking at him now.
Lin Mu's eyes locked onto the face of the man, identifying him. He looked a bit older than the last time he had seen him, and had several more grey hairs on his head. His skin had also developed a lot more wrinkles and age spots.
"Uncle Yuan Tu…" Lin Mu muttered.
His voice was low, but could be heard by those nearby Yuan Tu being one of them.
"Huh?" The man's eyes widened in confusion.
There was a hint of familiarity in the voice he had just heard, but at the same time, it was different. Yuan Tu looked up and saw Lin Mu standing there.
"He… Lin Gao?" A name escaped Yuan Tu's lips. "No… that can't be…" he said, seeing the differences in the build of the man in front of him.
Lin Mu who heard Yuan Tu speak the name, felt a spike of anger rising in his heart. But then he glanced at the man who had now entered his later ages and let out a sigh.
'No meaning in being angry over it… he's no longer worthy of being thought of.' Lin Mu reckoned.
"So you do remember him after all these years?" Lin Mu spoke.
"Who… Who are you?" Yuan Tu asked.
"You fool! Be respectful!" The voice of the supervisor was heard, anger and anxiety in his voice.
Yuan Tu was startled by the voice and was about to instinctively apologize, but was interrupted.
"This is a Great Lord from the capital! Not only is he here to help us with the complaint, but has also helped us finish our harvest quickly. All of you should be thankful!" The supervisor stated sternly.
The workers, including Yuan Tu who heard it were stunned.
"THANK YOU O' GREAT LORD!" The workers all said loudly.
Lin Mu could see the true gratitude in their eyes. It was pure and unaffected. There was no trace of greed or malice in it either, completely unlike the last he remembered them to be.
'Time and power truly change people… if I was the same as before, they would never be like this…' Lin Mu felt enlightened.
The change in the attitude of these commoners was far more impressionable on Lin Mu than those of the great experts of the sect. It just felt a lot more heavy to Lin Mu.
"As I've always said, power will bring you respect." Xukong's voice was heard in Lin Mu's mind.
"Indeed senior… indeed." Lin Mu replied, a few melancholic thoughts passing through his mind.
"Great Lord, may I have the honor of knowing your name?" The supervisor requested.
The workers all seemed interested too, especially Yuan Tu.
'How does he look so much like Lin Gao when he was younger?' Yuan Tu wondered. 'Is he related to him? Though Lin Gao never told me about having any family in the capital… not to mention someone as high ranking as a great lord…' he thought.
He couldn't help but have these thoughts. Yuan Tu knew very well that Lin Gao became an orphan after his parents had died. It was merely an occupational threat since both his parents were hunters and had perished to beasts.
It was one of the main reasons why Yuan Tu himself had left the job, but Lin Gao had kept at it.
"I am Lin Mu." He answered, looking at the supervisor.
As soon as this name was heard by Yuan Tu, he felt like there was thunder roaring in his head.
"IMPOSSIBLE!" He exclaimed, almost screaming out.
All the memories came rushing back, and the faces started matching for him. He recalled the orphan boy who had been left behind by Lin Gao. The same boy who called him Uncle Yuan Tu and the same boy who he had wronged in the past.
