Lin Mu looked on at the two and thought of what to say until he eventually decided on something.
"Looks like both of us will be going away soon, ha ha!" Lin Mu said.
Jing Wei raised his brows but understood that this was a good way to change the good situation and thus decided to go with it.
"Oh, really? Where are you going?" Jing Wei asked.
"I'll be going into seclusion for about a year soon… well after a wedding." Lin Mu replied.
"A wedding, whose wedding?" Duan Ke questioned, feeling curious.
"The son of the mayor, Lieutenant Wu Teng is getting married to the daughter of one of the elders of the Tri cauldron peony sect." Lin Mu answered.
"What? When did that happen?" Jing Wei asked, feeling confused now.
The two of them had been inside the courtyard for a while now and did not have much contact with the outside world for the past two weeks. The only contact they had was with the servants of Jingming Shang, who had sent them the materials that they needed.
But after that, they did not hear any news from the town and were thus in the blind about everything. Understanding this, Lin Mu began to tell them of all that had happened these past few days and how he was now going to represent the Lord of the Hei corps in a competition of some kind.
"Be careful Lin Mu, those people will try to use you," Jing Wei said in a concerned tone. "I've seen these contests and while they are common and are a means to demonstrate your strength, you will also draw plenty of eyes to yourself."
Lin Mu listened to his words and found them to be fair. He was inexperienced in these matters, and there was no one better than Jing Wei to give him advice in this aspect.
"I won't tell you what to do, but you can decide yourself if it is worth or not." Jing Wei added.
"Thank you for your advice, old man Jing. I'll think over it," Lin Mu said in a respectful tone.
Then suddenly a question came to Lin Mu's mind.
"You said you were going to leave, right? Then what's going to happen to the shop and the courtyard?" Lin Mu questioned.
"The shop itself will be here, as it had always been a part of the town. But the Myriad armament canopy abode, it can go wherever we want it to as it. I can anchor it to any place and it will be able to enter it. That is the reason why this was the backup plan of my clan." Jing Wei said.
"Oh, I see." Lin Mu nodded in understanding.
He then realized that he should probably hurry and get back to his tasks. The first thing he needed to do was to place the illusory formation array in his house to protect it while he was gone.
"Goodbye, then. I hope we meet again soon and you accomplish what you are setting out to do." Lin Mu said.
"You too, take care. You have a great duty on your head and you need to fulfill it. Be careful and don't let the schemes of others harm you. I hope that by the time we meet again, the situation will be one of peace and not conflict." Jing Wei replied.
Duan Ke meanwhile looked at Lin Mu with a complex expression and felt a bit confused about what to say.
~Sigh~
"Goodbye then," Duan Ke simply said with a small smile on her lips.
Seeing this, a big smile bloomed on Lin Mu's face as this was the first time he was seeing Duan Ke like this. He didn't mind that her farewell was rather short, but was happy with it.
Lin Mu was about to turn around when Jing Wei stopped him.
"Oh, I almost forgot!" Jing Wei said before waving his hand.
~clink~
~Shing~
~clink~
~Shing~
~clink~
~Shing~
Ten large bags appeared on the ground in front of him and made clinking sounds. As soon as Lin Mu heard it, he knew what was inside the bags. He didn't even look at them before he spoke.
"Why?" He asked.
"Where we are going, it won't be that useful. Besides, even if you have a strong master, having more money doesn't hurt. This should last you for a good while… I hope." Jing Wei said.
Lin Mu did a quick sweep with his spirit sense and was able to estimate an approximate number of coins in those bags. His mind was shocked by the sheer amount, but he was able to control it rather well this time.
"But if you had so much gold, why did you have to get more to repair the ring?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling strange.
"Oh, that was a different kind of gold that I used. The gold used to make these coins is the normal gold, but the one that I used to refine green gold and fix the ring was a different variant called as Crude gold. It is considered to be of a lower quality than the one that is used to make these coins. But it has some special properties that this kind of gold does not have and it can be refined further to make green gold." Jing Wei answered.
Lin Mu nodded his head and felt good at having another one of his curiosities satisfied. He then touched all of the coin bags and stored them in his ring, becoming a million gold coins richer in an instant. Lin Mu did not even know how he was going to spend it and felt like it would take him a few years to finish them all.
Just the current amount he had was barely starting to reduce. But of course, he didn't mind it and went along with it. He bid farewell to one last time to Jing Wei and Duan Ke before leaving the courtyard and heading to his house.
~Sigh~
"Will we ever see him again, grandfather?" Duan Ke questioned after Lin Mu had left.
"Oh, I believe it will be more than that. He has been ordained by the world's will, no person who has ever been given that duty has stayed hidden. I believe his name will echo across the entire continent soon." Jing Wei said.
"Even if we don't want to, we will see him. I just hope that we are on the same side in the end…" Jing Wei added with a melancholic look which was resonated by Duan Ke as well.
***
Meanwhile, Xukong was looking at the ethereal altar in the ring again. It had suddenly calmed down without doing anything, which was not something that he had expected.
"Why did you settle down?" Xukong questioned it, receiving no answer.
He thought to himself and went over Lin Mu's conversation with Jing Wei and Duan Ke, finding the answer on his own.
~Sigh~
'So that's why… only when he is in the need will you give it to him.' Xukong thought to himself.
"No matter, we will think of it when the time arrives," Xukong said to himself. "For now, we should just focus on the present…"
