The Saintess gazed at Lin Mu as he entered and a slight smile appeared under her veil.
~HIIISSSSS~
The twins shot towards Lin Mu upon hearing him and wrapped him around his body. The two rubbed their heads against him, having missed him a lot.
"Hahaha, I missed you too." Lin Mu stroked their heads. "Come out, Little Shrubby."
~yawn~ The giant sleeping figure of Little Shrubby was summoned at that moment. He yawned and opened his eyes, finding that they were back in the courtyard.
"Oh, you were sleeping?" Lin Mu saw the 10 meter long beast raising his head.
"I was cultivating and fell asleep… but we're back?" Little Shrubby realized. "The tournament is over?" he asked.
"Of course!" Lin Mu nodded.
"And you won! YAY!" The beast cried out loudly, terrifying the other beasts that were living nearby.
"I did… but not alone." Lin Mu said, looking at the Saintess. "Thank you for your help at the end, Saintess." He said with gratitude.
"Mmm, it is fine." The Saintess replied. "I merely stopped a bigger tragedy from happening."
"I know, if not for you I would have possibly died." Lin Mu stated.
"No… Even if I didn't, you wouldn't have died." The Saintess said, much to his surprise. "But the others surely would have… Millions… tens of millions."
"Huh?" Lin Mu felt confused.
The Saintess felt like there was some disconnect there.
"Have you talked to your master since then." The Saintess asked instead.
"No… I haven't." Lin Mu started to realize something.
"Hmm, you should when you have the time. Though I do not know if he'll be ready to speak just yet." She added.
Lin Mu furrowed his brows upon hearing this, wondering just what had he missed.
"What exactly happened?" Lin Mu asked.
"Sit down, I'll tell you." She replied.
"Alright," Lin Mu said as he took a seat in front of her.
The Saintess then narrated all that had happened, unknown to Lin Mu and most of the other people who were present there. And by the time she was done speaking, Lin Mu was left stunned.
'So that's why the Emperor was behaving so strangely and had injuries…' Lin Mu finally understood.
At first, he had thought that the Saintess had something to do with that too, but turns out it was much more. Xukong himself had acted and suppressed all top experts at once.
"Looks like I'll have to talk to Master later." Lin Mu muttered.
"Indeed. Plus, I do not think it was easy for him to do that either. He might have had to pay a cost for it." The Saintess stated.
"And what about you, Saintess? You used the power of a Celestial in the Rust Sky World which was against the restrictions of the world." Lin Mu asked, just in case.
"Nothing… I merely ended up using all of the power I had accumulated in the world." The Saintess replied. "I cannot use my original strength here, as it is sealed. I can only gather the power from this world itself and use it. But using the powers of a celestial in an immortal world is difficult… there is barely any suitable energy here." She said, making Lin Mu intrigued.
"You'll learn more later. It is not yet time for it." The Saintess could guess his thoughts.
"I understand." Lin Mu didn't wish to pry. "Though are you fine now, having used up all the energy?" he asked.
"I am… don't worry, I'll gather more in a while." The Saintess answered.
"That's good… plus we'll have plenty of time soon." Lin Mu stated.
Hearing that, Little Shrubby had a hunch.
"Are we going out?" The beast asked.
"Yes!" Lin Mu confirmed. "We'll be going south to a large forest."
"WOO! We get to explore more and get more ingredients!" Little Shrubby cheered.
"We, in south… before~" Xiao Yin suddenly spoke.
questioned.
"South big… good forest… delicious beasts…" Xiao Yang joined in.
"Oh yeah… You guys have gone to the south before." Lin Mu recalled the Saintess had taken the twins away for their breakthrough.
Remembering that, he took out the jade slip that the Crown Prince had given him.
"Saintess, you took them to a desert for their breakthrough, right?" Lin Mu questioned.
"Yes." She replied. "It was the safe place for a breakthrough. Empty and desolate, with the exception of some beasts."
Lin Mu browsed through the map and soon found the desert she was talking about. It was on the south eastern side of the Dao Wind empire and was about half the size of the Evergreen Pillars Forest.
"You guys really went far… Our location is much closer than that." Lin Mu replied, pointing to the markers.
The twins and Little Shrubby looked at it, with only the latter being able to read the names.
"Serene Glass Valley… Evergreen Pillars Forest." Little Shrubby said for the twins.
"Yes, those are the two places we'll be going to." Lin Mu confirmed. "We'll leave in a couple of days, time."
"Okay!" Little Shrubby and the twins replied in unison.
"Hmm, getting there will take you about two months." The Saintess easily estimated the distance.
"Roughly, yes." Lin Mu replied. "But, with Little Shrubby, it'll be just a month's time or even less."
"Of course! I'll get us there quick." Little Shrubby said with confidence.
"Till then though, let's relax and prepare." Lin Mu said. "Little Shrubby, time to cook."
"TIME FOR A FEAST!" Little Shrubby turned into a blur and rushed into the kitchen.
~shua~ shua~
The twins followed after him to assist as well.
"I'll wait for the food to be ready." The Saintess said.
"Of course, it won't take long," Lin Mu said and started to set up the other grills in the courtyard.
Even if he had already eaten at the banquet earlier, it didn't mean Lin Mu's hunger was satisfied. He felt like he could still eat a lot more and didn't mind having another feast.
In a couple of hours, the aroma of tantalizing dishes and the sound of joy filled the courtyard.
