Hei Bao seemed confused upon hearing Lin Mu's words. He could not think of anyone that would fit that description and wondered if it was someone that he didn't know of. They had already done their research on Lin Mu and thought that they knew most of the things about them.
In case of friends, Hei Bao knew that Lin Mu did not have any friends left in the town. Many of his childhood friends had left the town over the years and some had even died in the plague. While there were others who chose to leave the town after their family members died.
One of the ones that was still left was Lu Xiao, but even he had become distant over time. Another guess he had that the friend Lin Mu was talking about was perhaps someone from Jing Wei's emporium. There was little they knew about that shop or its owner.
The only information they knew was that it was run by a pair of grandfather and granddaughter with high cultivation bases. They didn't know if there was anyone else with them, but it did seem likely to them. They had come to the conclusion that someone that powerful must have had at least a few servants, even if they were not known of.
Suddenly Hei Bao had an idea, and he felt shocked inwardly.
'Could it be…? Is it someone related to his background perhaps… maybe even his master?' Hei Bao wondered.
Lin Mu was calmly sitting on the chair and was staring at his empty cup, thus did not notice the expression of Hei Bao. He pushed the chair back and decided to leave for now, seeing that his work here was done.
Hei Bao snapped out of his thoughts upon seeing Lin Mu stand up and spoke.
"Wait, what reward do you want? I'll be sending a report to my Lord soon and can mention your requirements in it." Hei Bao said.
Hei Bao thought that he may as well ask right now as he had a good guess that his Lord would want to surely reward Lin Mu. It was better if he told him what was the need of Lin Mu, that way there would be no loss of precious time.
Lin Mu halted in his steps and looked at Hei Bao.
"I would like spirit stones and Basic Qi pills. As many as you can give me." Lin Mu replied without hesitation.
Lin Mu had his goals set and knew that the fastest way to reach the next realm would be for him to have resources such as these. He had already gotten some from Jing Wei and Duan Ke, but considering his pace of their consumption, Lin Mu knew that they would not last long.
Practicing the nameless technique of the lost immortal also needed a lot of liquid spirit qi, and Lin Mu had been investing half of his liquid spirit qi that he refined into it. This had slowed his pace of progress into the next realm by half, not to mention that his dantian had also grown in size, thus he would be needing even more spirit qi to breakthrough to the next realm compared to other cultivators.
"Alright, that's acceptable." Hei Bao nodded in response to Lin Mu's words and knew that this was the most straightforward reward that was easy to prepare.
Although he did not know how many spirit stones his lord would be giving, he knew that these were rather precious, and even he only had some with him that were reserved for emergencies. As for the basic qi pills, he had used a few of them before and the cultivators in Hei Corps got some every month as incentives.
Basic qi pills were relatively easy to procure too, and any sect would be able to supply them. Even a few mortal organizations were involved in their production and sold them as well.
"We should receive a response in a couple of days, I'll inform you when it arrives." Hei Bao said in a calm tone.
Lin Mu nodded in response before leaving the town center and heading back to his house. After entering his room, he checked up on the Brown Shrubby Forest cat and saw that it was still asleep. Its head was curled up against the pillow while its body was half-covered with the quilt.
"It will take him a while to wake up. Mental exhaustion for beasts is much higher than humans and they take longer to recover." Xukong spoke.
"I understand, Senior." Lin Mu replied before sitting down to cultivate.
Lin Mu had been using most of his time to cultivate and was conscious of the deadline that was approaching fast. Although he still had a long time left till the Great Slumber bear woke up, Lin Mu still wanted to be ready for it beforehand and did not want to take any risks.
He took out the box containing the basic qi pills and popped one into his mouth before chanting the severing heart sutra. Hours passed by as evening crept up. Lin Mu opened his eyes and let out a breath.
~Huu~
He looked at the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat and found it to be in deep sleep.
"Hmm, guess it'll take even longer." Lin Mu muttered before heading to the kitchen to cook.
Eating the beast meat and assimilating the vital energy had become like a second nature to Lin Mu at this point, and he did not even need to think much before being able to do it.
But when Lin Mu returned to his bedroom, he found himself in a dilemma. Where was he supposed to sleep?
"Umm, I don't want to disturb him or move him. He looks so comfortable." Lin Mu said as he looked at the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat.
But just as he said this, the beast turned in its sleep, making space for Lin Mu.
"Seems like he understood your thoughts…" Xukong spoke with a chuckle.
Lin Mu rubbed his head in embarrassment before lying down on the bed and entering the Sleepscape.
