Looking at Lin Mu act like that made Duan Ke only feel more uncomfortable. Especially when his lips gently opened, and he lightly came forwards, a myriad of thoughts popped into her mind. Thoughts which she had never thought of before.
Feeling scared at these thoughts, she closed her eyes in acceptance. But just as she was awaiting the thing that she had imagined, it never happened. Instead, a wave of calmness washed over her body and relived her worries.
Duan Ke could hear some esoteric chants in her ears and could tell that they were coming from the front. She did not understand what the chants meant, but they were helping her. It was as if the chants were lifting a hidden weight that was placed upon her heart.
Duan Ke couldn't tell how much time had passed as when she opened her eyes after the chants had stopped. She no longer felt the terror she had felt before, and a feeling of serenity and peace had replaced it. She had not felt like this in a long time and was cherishing every moment of it.
'What is this?… Did he do it? But how?' Wondered Duan Ke, as she basked in the peaceful feeling.
Her eyes lifted from the ground and looked back at the person standing in front of him. For the first time ever, she was taking such a close look at him. Lin Mu had changed from what she used to remember he looked like.
Duan Ke couldn't almost believe her eyes as she saw the changes in him. Lin Mu's height had increased by a little bit and his hair had grown as well. His physique had also changed slightly, but it wasn't as apparent. Strangely enough, she felt as if his shoulders had become broad like a shield.
She felt as if they would be good for protecting her for some reason. As she thought of this, her face was tinged with a slight shade of pink.
'What am I thinking? Ah! Why do I feel like this?' Duan Ke questioned herself.
Forcibly suppressing her thoughts, she focused her attention again. This time on more important things, such as why Lin Mu was here and how he was able to enter this place.
***
Lin Mu saw the strange look on her face that lasted for a couple of minutes before he actually stopped chanting the calming heart sutra. He was feeling a little guilty at Duan Ke's condition thus thought of this solution.
He reckoned that it should help her to a certain extent, but had never expected for there to be a reaction such as this. For some reason, her face had turned a shade of pink and he didn't know what to think of.
'Perhaps, it's just the effect of the calming heart sutra reliving her fear… Yes, that's probably it.' Lin Mu thought to himself.
He then saw Duan Ke open her eyes and struggling with something before finally speaking.
"How did you enter here?" Duan Ke questioned.
Lin Mu was at a loss of what to answer. He couldn't just tell her that he appeared here because of sheer curiosity, could he? It was now that the voice of Senior Xukong rang in his mind.
"Actually, that's what you should do. Did you forget they already suspect your capabilities? Take advantage of this the same as you did with the Hei corps." Xukong suggested.
Lin Mu thought over it for a moment before deciding that it should be fine. Many people already believed that he had a strong background adding a couple more people didn't really matter at this point. Besides, even if he told them the truth, he didn't think they would believe it.
~Huu~
Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu finally opened his mouth.
"I sensed a formation outside and wanted to know what it was doing here in the middle of the town. And ever since your shop disappeared, I was wondering where you guys were. It eventually led me to this, and I ended up finding an opening in the formation." Lin Mu answered rather truthfully.
Duan Ke heard Lin Mu's words but could not bring her to believe in them. They were seemed far too good to be true. She knew the complexity of the formation that was placed on this courtyard and knew the difficulty one would have in finding a flaw in it.
One could not just 'find an opening' as what Lin Mu had just said.
'There is definitely something more that he's hiding.' Duan Ke thought to herself.
But just as she did so, Duan Ke remembered the incident from the past again and that combined with the peerless sword intent she had felt before, an idea formed in her mind. She could imagine Lin Mu standing there and a mysterious figure behind him, guiding him.
'Yes, that's it! He definitely has a hidden expert behind him. The only question is which one… is it the expert who had the peerless sword intent, perhaps?' Duan Ke thought to himself.
A multitude of thoughts and ideas passed through her mind, but in the end, she realized that it would be best to leave it to her grandfather for now. Jing Wei was much more experienced than her and would be able to understand the situation much better than her.
With this temporary solution in her mind, she just decided to take Lin Mu to meet her grandfather.
"Let's go, we'll meet my grandfather and there you can tell him the rest." Duan Ke spoke in a cold tone.
Lin Mu finally heard the familiar cold tone and felt a bit better. He was used to Duan Ke acting like that and was feeling uncomfortable with her previous behavior. Calmly nodding to show his acknowledgment, he spoke.
"Alright, show me the way." Lin Mu replied.
Duan Ke turned around immediately and the spirit sword that was floating above her floated down and came to hover in front of her. She lightly held the sword and it disappeared. Looking at this, Lin Mu immediately felt the spatial fluctuations.
