"Senior?" Lin Mu called out, seeing that Xukong had gone silent all of a sudden.
"Ah, yes. I can't tell what exactly happened, but I did feel the space within the ring tremble for a moment there as well." Xukong informed.
"You did?" Lin Mu asked.
"Yes. At first, I thought it was probably just a minor anomaly in space. The ring is a strange space that even I cannot fully understand and just thought that it might have been a normal occurrence, albeit rare.
But now… now I don't think that was normal." Xukong explained.
Lin Mu narrowed his eyes upon hearing this and wondered what it could have been.
"Should we check the ring?" Lin Mu asked.
"I've already taken a look around the altar, there's no change there. As for any other places, it would be impossible to find a source with how vast this place is." Xukong replied.
"I see… we'll think about this later, I guess. For now, we'll focus on the task at hand." Lin Mu replied.
"Agreed, I'll keep a close eye on the situation in the ring in the meantime." Xukong stated.
Lin Mu nodded his head and decided to leave this place.
He had already seen enough of the old man and the longer he stayed here while observing him, the more uncomfortable he became.
'At least we know what the peak power of this kingdom is…' Lin Mu thought to himself as he ascended to the floors above.
His location was none other than the floor where he had detected the three other Nascent soul realm cultivators. He had to be a bit more careful in this part and ensured that his spirit sense did not accidentally come into their sensory range.
This floor was three levels up from the floor on which the old man was and looked like a study room instead. There were several bookshelves along with tens of chests kept along the walls. There were also some paintings hung on the wall.
In here, Lin Mu saw three Nascent soul realm cultivators talking. Since he was closer to them, Lin Mu could now tell their cultivation bases far more clearly.
"One Infant Soul stage Nascent soul realm cultivator and two Child Soul stage Nascent soul realm cultivators." Lin Mu observed.
One of the Child Soul stage Nascent Soul realm cultivators was sitting behind a desk talking to the other two, who were evidently together. There was of course, a sound isolating formation around the floor, but that was already a piece of cake for Lin Mu to unravel.
Once inside the formation, Lin Mu took his position at a closer and convenient location so that he could hear the three men talk.
"… As I stated before, we do not have the location of a thousand year old Hong Lin tree." The man sitting behind the desk said and took a pause. "But since my brother had a favorable relationship with the sect master, I'm willing to compromise and let the kingdom's reserve stores be given." The man continued.
"What is it that you want?" The Infant soul stage Nascent soul realm cultivator asked.
"I want you two to assist my nephew in a breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm. He's close to it and will have it sometime this month." The man behind the desk spoke.
Hearing this, Lin Mu instantly realized who they were talking about. After all, there was only one person that was close to a breakthrough right now in the Hong Lin Kingdom's royal place.
"The king? This man is his uncle?" Lin Mu observed the man.
He could soon match several of the features of the man. Though both this man and the king seemed to be of the same age if he compared just the appearance; They were both middle aged.
"This is not what we were told, sect master told us to only go to you and that you will fulfill your end of the bargain." The Infant Soul stage Nascent Soul realms cultivator said, looking a bit upset.
"And we would have helped if we knew of the location of a tree like that. But we don't and thus don't have a compulsion to tell you anymore. I am going out of my way to give you a way to complete the mission you were given." The king's uncle stated firmly.
"Fine… if we do agree, how do you propose we help?" The other Child Soul stage Nascent soul realm cultivator questioned.
"You can make a tribulation attenuation platform so that my nephew can breakthrough safely and can also act as the Dharma protectors along with me then. Even though I'm sure nothing would happen and no one would dare to interfere, it would still be best for the safety of my nephew." The King's uncle answered.
"Senior brother this!" The Infant soul stages Nascent soul realm cultivator seemed agitated upon hearing this and was about to stand up when he felt a hand on his arm.
"Be calm, Junior brother. Let me handle this." The senior brother spoke.
"Humph, you should listen to your senior brother. Even if you are from a Top sect, you can't act without decorum in the royal place of an official vassal of the Great Zhou Empire." The King's uncle stated without a hint of fear on his face.
Lin Mu found this to be strange because if it were any other Nascent soul realm cultivators, they would think twice before acting like this in front of other Nascent soul realm cultivators, especially when they were alone.
Numbers could overwhelm power at a certain point, and Lin Mu was sure that he wasn't someone who could find multiple experts at the same level as him without any trouble.
'Hmm… they are here for the thousand year old Hong Lin trees as well. Perhaps this might be useful to us too…' Lin Mu thought and decided to listen more while waiting here.
"So what have you finally decided?" The king's uncle asked.
