Lin Mu was about to ask Duan Ke what was wrong when she suddenly spoke.
"Let's go grandfather is waiting for you." She said before walking in.
Lin Mu didn't even have a chance to respond to her and simply decided to follow her for the time being. Though he was also having a strange feeling in his guts now.
They reached the hall and Lin Mu saw Jing Wei sitting there with his eyes closed. He seemed to be deep in thought and from his expressions it looked as if he had detached himself from this world and the only things that existed for him now were the things in his mind.
Jing Wei opened his eyes when Lin Mu came to a stop in front of him.
"Grandfather, I've got the illusory formation components ready as you asked." Duan Ke said.
"That's good. Now give them to him and tell him how to use them after that." Jing Wei said in a calm tone.
Duan Ke withdrew a box from her Spatial treasure and handed it to Lin Mu. She also took out a small jade slip and held it to her forehead for a minute before giving it to him as well.
"The box has the components you will need to set the formation while the jade slip has detailed instructions on how to construct it. It shouldn't be hard as the components are already refined." Duan Ke said.
Lin Mu kept the box of components in his ring and looked through the contents of the small jade slip. The information appeared in his mind and he found it to be relatively simple.
"I can guide you with the formation so these instructions don't really matter," Xukong said in Lin Mu's mind.
"Hmm" Lin Mu hummed in response to both Duan Ke and Xukong.
He then looked at Jing Wei, who was still sitting on the throne like chair.
"So what news did you have for me?" Lin Mu questioned.
"Well, first of all I would like to thank you and your master again for giving us the knowledge. We will eternally be grateful for that." Jing Wei said and then stood up.
Duan Ke also seemed to have tensed up and was now standing in a rather different posture.
Jing Wei then brought his hands in front and upped them in a salute, and Duan Ke did the same.
"What…" Lin Mu was about to talk when he was interrupted.
"I Jing Wei, the sixth patriarch of the Jing Clan hereby declare that me and my clan, as long as they exist shall be in your debt and if you so desire will be available to help for five generations of your offsprings." Jing Wei declared in a powerful tone before bowing.
Lin Mu kept on listening with shock face couldn't say anything either.
"I Duan Ke, the sole princess of the former Duan kingdom hereby declare that me and my family, as long as they exist shall be in your debt and if you so desire will be available for help for five generations of your offsprings." Duan Ke declared in a staunch voice before bowing as well.
Lin Mu was overwhelmed by their words and felt as if his mind was going blank.
"That was certainly unexpected," Xukong commented.
While Lin Mu could still understand Jing Wei's words, he was confused about Duan Ke's.
'Princess? The Duan Kingdom?' Lin Mu questioned in his mind.
He tried to recall if he had read anything about the Duan Kingdom and remembered that there indeed was one a long time ago. The Duan Kingdom was one of the kingdoms of the former Central Continent and was also a great power once upon a time.
Eventually, it was taken over by the Zhou kingdom like the rest and became a vassal. The Royal clan of the Duan Kingdom still existed back then, but something happened about fifty years ago when a civil war broke out. There was some kind of conflict in the royal family and all of its members were either wiped out or disappeared.
After that, the kingdom was split up by the neighboring kingdoms and disappeared forever into the annals of time. Lin Mu had not expected that Duan Ke was a princess of that kingdom at all.
Jing Wei and Duan Ke stood back up from their bow and looked at the perplexed Lin Mu.
"I know it's a lot to process but don't take it to your heart. We… we are no longer the same as before. I am the Patriarch of a clan that has no members, and Duan Ke is the princess of a kingdom that has no subjects. Our titles are mere scars of the past and hold no meaning." Jing Wei said in a calm tone.
Lin Mu didn't know what to say and simply nodded his head. He knew that the words they had said were heavy and were their way to express their gratitude. He could not disrespect them by denying them this thing.
"Grandfather, you still need to tell him that…" Duan Ke prompted.
"Tell me what?" Lin Mu asked.
"The knowledge that we obtained has greatly helped us, and in a long time, I finally feel like I have hope. Hope to take revenge for my clan." Jing Wei replied with flames in his eyes.
~Sigh~
Jing Wei let out a breath and calmed himself down before continuing.
"And for this very reason, we need to prepare. We have been waiting for the right opportunity and now it has come. We… we will be gone for a while." He said.
"Gone? Where are you going and for how long?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling apprehensive.
"We will be heading to our ancestral lands, there we will have the right things to prepare. I also want to tell you this, when we come back, the empire will not be the same. It is likely that the news of our return will start a new conflict, so you need to be prepared for that.
As for the time… it can be a few months or it can be more than a year." Jing Wei answered.
