The High Elder's worlds were astonishing to Lin Mu.
"Divination? There's someone good enough to use it on the Temple?" Lin Mu said in doubt.
Lin Mu had read about divination as well as heard about it from Senior Xukong.
It was a difficult thing to do and was often inaccurate or vague at best. Very few cultivators were decent at it and even then they could make inaccurate readings. Not to mention there were many factors that affected it.
One of these was that if one was trying to divine information about someone or something that was strong, it would require a similar cost. This cost could be varied and often demanded something from the diviner. Normally the diviners would use Qi to pay for this cost, but the more complex the divination the higher the cost would get.
And when a diviner didn't have enough Qi, they might end up getting their lifespan or vitality drained!
In the case of the Temple of the Four guardians, anything related to them would be difficult to divine. After all not only were they strong beings but also had a lot of karma surrounding them. The guardian beasts themselves were beings that were affected by karma, making divinations turn blurred against them.
All those that would attempt to divine for information about the Tournament would find it deadly or injurious to them.
"The number of cultivators that can use Divination in the Rust Sky world is less than ten but those that can divine information about the temple or the tournament is zero." High Elder Juxue spoke after taking a pause.
"Then… you think it is someone from another world?" Lin Mu guessed.
To him, the given information showed that the diviner being from the Rust Sky would be impossible. Which only left the other worlds and stronger experts as suspects.
"Indeed. Whoever it is, they are also hiding their karma very well." High Elder Juxue replied. "Thus the temple can only take things the slow way."
"But with the temple's influence, isn't it possible to call in diviners too?" Lin Mu asked after thinking for a bit. "The immortal court is bound to have them, right?" he inquired.
"That's true. But calling them in this short period is difficult. Not to mention, it would also mean that the Temple was admitting defeat. Such a loss of face cannot be taken." High Elder Juxue said in a serious tone. "This will be investigated, but the Immortal Court would not allow the Tournament to be affected just like this." He added.
"I see…" Lin Mu understood that it now came down to the reputation of the Temple of the Four Guardians.
Even if they had to delay the investigation for a bit, they would exact the payment from the offenders.
"Now that Junior Mu Lin knows about this, what do you intend to do?" High Elder Juxue asked curiously.
"I don't think there is much to do." Lin Mu replied. "If even the temple is holding back, I don't think I have a right to speak in the matter." He said cautiously.
"Hmm… that might be for the best." High Elder Juxue agreed. "But then again, if the diviner is good enough, they might know about this too." He said with a chuckle.
Lin Mu felt a bit confused as to why the High Elder had revealed such information to him. It could have been on a whim, or perhaps because the old man found him interesting. Whatever the reason was, it served enough to alarm Lin Mu about undercurrents that were hidden behind the tournament.
'Looks like I'll just have to wait and see what's going on later.' Lin Mu thought to himself.
~SHUA~
A wave of energy spread again before Lin Mu found his location changing.
"I'll bid Junior farewell for now. I have tasks I need to attend to now. I think I've taken enough of a break." High Elder Juxue stated.
"Of course, High Elder Juxue. Goodbye." Lin Mu cupped his hands before taking his leave.
He knew the old man might just be giving an excuse, but Lin Mu was fine with it. Lin Mu knew better than to overstay his welcome.
'Hmm… for a Diviner to be involved in this too… things are getting stranger.' Lin Mu thought as he walked back to the previous hall.
"Oh! Brother Mu Lin!" There he saw Ming Aolian and Ming Dandan waiting along with Lu Xu and Qian Wen.
"Where did you go?" Ming Dandan asked.
"Just checking out the rest of the place." Lin Mu replied. "How about you? Did you finish healing the beasts?" he asked changing the topic.
"Yes! The healers of the temple are really quick." Ming Dandan nodded her head.
"Though Brother Mu Lin's pills also helped. We had fed them to the beasts beforehand, so their medicinal efficacy was still helping them passively." Ming Aolian added.
"Yes! It's all thanks to Brother Mu Lin." Ming Dandan was rather happy.
"It's good that the beasts are fine now." Lin Mu replied. "Though did you two get your rewards?" he asked next.
"We were just about to." Ming Aolian said. "Let's get them Dandan."
"Sure!" Ming Dandan responded as the two sisters walked to the observation orb.
Ming Aolian was the first to get her reward while Ming Dandan followed after.
"What did you get?" Lu Xu asked.
"Hmm… the same as you two. Though the number of Immortal stones is less." Ming Aolian replied.
"Same here." Ming Dandan chimed in.
"Seems like the rewards for us were tied since we worked together." Qian Wen guessed.
"That does seem likely." Lin Mu had the same thought.
"Well… what do we do now?" Lu Xu asked. "We got a week to wait."
"Let's meet up with Luo Liqin first. He already contacted me a few minutes ago." Qian Wen suggested.
"Yeah, we do need to talk to him first." Lin Mu agreed.
With that decided, the group left the pavilion and went to the Spring Valley restaurant. It had basically become their default place to gather for now, and Luo Liqin would also monitor everything from there.
"We should order some new dishes." Ming Dandan suggested. "It's been a while since we ate anything."
"Yeah, I wanna eat too." Lu Xu agreed.
"We'll ask for it upstairs." Lin Mu said as he entered the restaurant.
The staff was well informed about them and remembered them. They were prompt in guiding them to the designated room where Luo Liqin had been waiting for a while now.
"Welcome, Brother Mu Lin!" Luo Liqin said out loud. "Congratulations on the win!"
"Ahaha! Did you doubt us?" Lu Xu laughed.
"With Brother Mu Lin's help we were bound to win." Qian Wen stated.
"How did things go on your end?" Lin Mu inquired next.
"They went well." Luo Liqin said. "Let's sit first, I'll show you all."
"Of course." Lin Mu said before looking at the staff. "Can you get us a couple of all dishes you have?" he ordered.
"Right away honored guests!" The waiter replied before quickly taking their leave.
Having gotten a big order, they knew they had to be quick to prepare everything.
Lin Mu was also feeling a bit hungry thus reckoned he might as well order more.
~thud~
In this time, Luo Liqin placed a jade slip on the table.
~shua~
"Look at this," He said before tapping the jade slip.
A formation screen appeared above it, showing some information.
Lin Mu and the others read it, while surprise appeared on their faces.
"This…" Qian Wen's eyes went wide.
~gasp~
Ming Dandan on the other hand gasped before placing her hands on her mouth.
"Isn't this…" Lu Xu gulped. "A bit too—"
"High?" Ming Aolian interrupted.
Lin Mu who saw the numbers was astonished as well. Though a bit of confusion also accompanied it.
"How did it change this much?" Lin Mu couldn't help but question. "Were we wrong?"
"Our initial calculations weren't wrong." Luo Liqin shook his head. "They were correct until a certain point." He added.
"Then what happened?" Lin Mu questioned.
"Nobles and Aristocrats… that's what happened." Luo Liqin answered.
"Huh? What did they do?" Lu Xu asked in doubt.
"At the start, everything was going according to our predictions. The odds were the same while the bets were stable." Luo Liqin explained. "But that was until Brother Mu Lin showed his skills."
"What part exactly?" Ming Aolian couldn't help but ask.
After all, Lin Mu had shown quite a lot.
"It started when Brother Mu Lin made the Sky Cull Grounding Formation. The aristocrats were interested in it and were astounded by Brother Mu Lin's skill. It raised the value of Brother Mu Lin a lot, and when they finally saw you all fighting, they were simply impressed.
But after the negotiation Brother Mu Lin did with Childe Wildfire, even Nobles were interested. They too added to the bets, and the greatly changed the odds. The dividends of it all added up, resulting in the number in front of you." Luo Liqin explained.
