Lin Mu's question was not something Little Gian and Kunzi had expected. To them, it was almost nothing to ask in exchange for safety.
"Alright, we're willing to speak." Kunzi decided, and Little Gian nodded in agreement as well.
"Good. We can talk outside, at the camp nearby. You two can eat as well." Lin Mu stated.
"Okay, that is fine with us." Kunzi replied and the three of them left the hole.
Lin Mu didn't forget to take a look at the stone slabs that Kunzi was working on. They looked unlike any formation plates or talisman to him and he was intending to ask about them later.
After leaving the hole, Lin Mu didn't walk straight to the camp though. He instead used Blink went to the first rock that Little Gian had spotted. There he picked up the twin snakes. He had left them there upon seeing that he may have been seen by the two humans.
Not wanting to take any chances, Lin Mu hid the sleeping twins using the Earth Dao Traces and continued onwards. His caution turned out to be right as Kunzi directly threw an explosive and blew up the place he was in.
If not for that fact that he had left behind the twin snakes, he would have left them at the site of explosion after using Blink. Without them though, he was free to move around using his skills.
That was one of the restrictions he had while keeping the twins with him. He could use his ring's skills but they would not allow the twins to come with him.
And while he could have directly reached Kunzi and Little Gian using Phase, Lin Mu didn't do that. His aim was to train his proficiency with the Earth Dao Traces and the new method of stealth he had made.
If he could develop it more, it might become one of his very useful skills later.
Though to Kunzi and Little Gian, his methods seemed very mysterious.
"How is he doing that? Is it a moment type Qi skill?" Little Gian asked.
"I can't tell… it's too fast for me to tell." Kunzi replied. "Regardless, it is very concerning. We can't offend him easily." He said firmly.
"Mmm…" Little Gian agreed.
"Look! It's noble Lin Mu." The Haima Scouts soon spotted them approaching from the distance.
"He has the two humans with him too."
"Seems like they've come to an agreement."
"That's good. At least we can head back to the tribe now."
The Haima Scouts were pleased and happy with the fast progress.
"Welcome, Noble Lin Mu." The Scouts greeted him.
"Can you cook some of the stone flesh mushrooms while I talk to the two humans?" Lin Mu asked.
"Of course. It'll be our pleasure." The scouts said before getting to work.
They quickly set up a stove and began to cook the Stone Flesh mushrooms. In the mean time, Lin Mu sat down with Kunzi and Little Gian.
The two of them guzzled down two liters of water each before feeling better.
"Ahh~ that was good." Little Gian said.
"The two of you ran opposite to where the water reservoirs are. If you went far enough, you would have just died of thirst." Lin Mu said, much to their surprise.
"Guess it's good we didn't then…" Kunzi didn't want to think in that direction, wanting to keep a strong mind.
Done with the pleasantries, Lin Mu decided to start questioning them.
"Now then, can you tell me who you two are?" Lin Mu asked first.
"I'm Kunzi, an itinerant cultivator."
"I'm Gian, also an itinerant cultivator."
"So both of you are… Hmm, why are you two here, then?" Lin Mu questioned.
"That…" Little Gian seemed to be a little hesitant to speak.
"We were caught stealing. By the Soldiers of the Cloud Fall kingdom." Kunzi answered instead.
"Oh? Caught stealing what?" Lin Mu asked. "I don't think the punishment of exile is proportional to theft."
From what Lin Mu had been told by Huyun Chuan, the conditions needed for a criminal to be sent to the Land of exile were high. Just normal theft wouldn't be enough to do this. After all, sending someone to the Land of Exile also cost quite a lot of resource.
The time to reach it was long and needed quite a lot of manpower too. Thus, it didn't make sense to send someone this far.
"We… Stole cultivation techniques and some Qi skills from an auction house." Kunzi answered.
Lin Mu raised a brow upon hearing this. He knew just how sensitive cultivation techniques and Qi skills could be. If a sect's or clan's original and signature techniques were stolen, whoever stole it would become their worst enemy.
Death was often the end for those thieves.
'Considering these were being sold in an auction house, they mustn't be highly sensitive. At the most, they would be very valuable.' Lin Mu thought to himself.
Lin Mu also didn't forget the fact that the Rust Sky World had no sects in it. Only the kingdoms and empires existed and were the chief sources of cultivation related information as well as resources.
At the same time, they the highest centralized authority, and the laws were dictated by them.
"You two were saved by the kingdom's laws?" Lin Mu questioned.
"In a way, yes… The people of the Auction house wanted us to be killed since we had seen the content of those cultivation techniques and Qi skills. But according to the laws of the Cloud Fall kingdom, it didn't levy a death penalty.
But it was still enough for us to be exiled." Kunzi answered.
"Hmm… I see." Lin Mu felt satisfied that the two weren't some really heinous criminals.
Theft was something he could tolerate. After all, he himself has stolen quite a 'lot'.
"Also, do you know the two other humans that were exiled? The ones you came here with?" Lin Mu questioned next.
"We don't know much. We simply happened to be together when they sent us in here." Kunzi replied.
