Lin Mu saw Lu Xu, Ming Aolian, Ming Dandan, Qian Wen and Luo Qilin rushing towards him.
They had anxious expressions on their faces along with fear gleaming in their eyes.
"Are you okay!?"
"We saw it all!"
"How are your injuries?" They shot off a series of questions.
"I'm injured but I will recover." Lin Mu calmed them down. "We can talk someplace private first." He added.
"Yes…" Lu Xu realized that they might have been a bit too hasty in acting like this.
They had never seen Lin Mu be this injured before and that too being in a weaker position. While he had managed to defeat Yao Changying, the woman had still escaped.
Her condition was also strange and they couldn't understand just what had happened.
"We'll head to the restaurant first." Lin Mu ordered.
"Yes." They all agreed and quickly went to the Spring Valley Restaurant.
Upon reaching there, Lin Mu saw the restaurant looked to be rather empty. The staff members seemed to have all disappeared and no customers seemed to be there either.
"Why is this empty?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.
"When the situation in the tournament grounds happened, a lot of the people ran away not knowing what could happen." Luo Liqin informed. "We ran at the same time too. Yao Changying's actions were terrifying and absurd to us. We would have never thought she would directly offend the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts."
"That is true." Lin Mu nodded his head before spreading his immortal sense.
It covered the entire restaurant and showed him that it was entirely empty. Not a single person was present and the arrays of the restaurant had activated automatically.
"Hmm… looks like we cannot use this now." Lin Mu said. "It has gone into a defensive lock down state."
"Where should we go then?" Ming Aolian asked.
"We could go to my courtyard." Lu Xu offered.
"Rather than that, why don't you guys come with us." All of a sudden, a new voice was heard, catching the attention of Lin Mu.
They turned to look and saw none other than Daoist Chu standing there along with a few imperial guards.
Lu Xu and the others recognized them to be the companion of Crown Prince Feng Shun.
"Daoist Chu," Lin Mu greeted the man.
"Crown Prince Feng Shun and Crown Princess Shang has heard and seen everything." Daoist Chu stated briefly. "They've asked me to bring you all over. The Capital city will soon be put under a full lock down. It is best you are with us." He informed.
Hearing that Qian Wen's eyes went wide.
"Full lock down!? Isn't that only supposed to be for—" Qian Wen was interrupted at this moment.
"War, yes." Daoist Chu nodded his head.
"Is the Dao Wind Empire preparing for war? But in the middle of the Tournament?" Lu Xu couldn't believe this.
"We do not know if the war will truly happen. But Yao Changying's actions have ignited the fuse. It is up to the Holy Topaz Dynasty whether they let this fuse blow up the war." Daoist Chu said in a serious tone.
~sigh~
Hearing that, Lin Mu couldn't help but let out a tiring sigh.
"Another war…" Lin Mu muttered memories of the Xiao Fan world flashing through his mind.
While Lin Mu was familiar with war, and had fought in the Xiao Fan world, he also knew that it wouldn't compare to a war in the Rust Sky world.
Not only was the population several times larger, it was also tens of times stronger. A war on the Rust Sky world would be unprecedented and unlike anything Lin Mu had seen.
Daoist Chu and Lu Xu noticed the conflicted expression on Lin Mu's face, wondering why he would feel like that.
No one knew Lin Mu's thoughts as he went silent for ten seconds.
"Daoist Mu Lin," Daoist Chu called out, causing Lin Mu to look at him.
"Let's go." Lin Mu said plainly, not wanting to elaborate.
Seeing that Lin Mu had agreed, Daoist Chu nodded and turned around. "Follow us,"
Lin Mu and his companions went along Daoist Chu and looked at the imperial guards.
'If he has imperial guards with him, it means the Crown Prince has given him a certain authority… looks like there really might be a full lock down.' Qian Wen was in the Army too as such knew a lot more than others on how things like this worked.
If Daoist Chu came along he wouldn't have believed him. After all the man was an outsider and did not belong to the Dao Wind empire and neither the Rust Sky world. His words would not hold weight.
But with the Imperial Guards following him, his words took on great value.
'But for the Crown Prince to send an outsider instead of just the Imperial guard… just what is he thinking?' Qian Wen could tell that the prince seemed to be going against the protocols a bit.
He didn't voice out his concerns yet, choosing to wait and watch. After all, there was always a chance he could be mistaken and it was better to see it himself.
About twenty minutes later, Daoist Chu brought Lin Mu and the rest to a large mansion that was surrounded by tall walls. There were guards standing on the walls watching everything with keen eyes.
There were almost no people around the area either, as if they didn't dare to walk here causally.
"What is this place?" Ming Dandan couldn't help but ask.
Looking at the style of the mansion, they could easily tell that this belonged to nobility, but the high security from Imperial Guards was concerning.
Normal nobles could not command them, and would instead use arrays to protect their property. Another thing was the location and size of the mansion.
It was located midway between the Tournament Grounds and the Palace grounds, but was off center from the central street. This meant that not many people would pass by here, unless they specifically had something to do nearby.
