To King Hong who had seen minster Fu Delun for a long time, he knew the nature of the man. He also knew that the man would have never acted like this before. A sudden change like this could only be attributed to a few things.
Either it was that the man was an imposter or that he was being controlled, just like Lin Mu had said.
"King Hong, perhaps we should still confirm this first." Adviser Liu asked.
"Go ahead, check the royal repository." King Hong replied before looking at Lin Mu and the other two disciples. "I believe you all can hold him?" he asked.
It was now that Lin Mu spoke.
"Oh, he won't move anymore." Lin Mu said as he moved towards Fu Delun and pushed him back with one finger.
~THUD~
The man helplessly fell on his back and did not react at all. His expression was stuck in a strange daze and his eyes were glazed over.
"He'll stay in this state for a couple of hours. You don't need to worry anymore." Lin Mu explained.
While there were many questions arising in the minds of King Hong and the others, they knew it was best to process and not think too much. Lin Mu had certainly used a skill that was beyond them, and they didn't want to pry into his secrets for the fear of offending him.
Lin Mu's might was already established by now and there was no need for them to test it beyond this.
King Hong sat back down on his throne and wondered where was it that he had gone wrong. He questioned himself if he had noticed all this earlier perhaps none of this might have happened.
Lin Mu, who looked at the perplexed expression on the king's face, guessed what he was thinking.
"Is King Hong wondering how all this happened?" Lin Mu questioned.
"How did you know?" King Hong raised his brows in surprise.
"It is not hard to guess. With Gu Yao… a lot of people have the same reactions. That is just how he operates. One day everything will be fine, then a few days later you would find people betraying you and everything flipping around.
That is how Gu Yao controls people and causes devastation." Lin Mu answered.
~Sigh~
King Hong sighed and didn't know what to make of this. He waited for Adviser Liu to appear and just kept on looking at the minister, whom he knew very well.
"Your majesty!" Adviser Liu's voice could soon be heard from the side.
In his hand were several documents, and a troubled expression was also on his face.
"Looks like… what brother Lin Mu said is true." Adviser Liu stated.
"Let me take a look myself." King Hong said as he took the documents in his hands.
He went through them one by one and saw the stamps of approval on them. The more he read, the more infuriated he got.
"This is atrocious! This is a joint seal of authority! How did Minister Fu Delun even get access to it?" King Hong said out loud.
"I wouldn't be surprised if they have forged even more documents and seals by now, King Hong. You may want to do a full audit of the officials. While I'm sure there won't be any more people being controlled by Gu Yao directly since he has limited numbers that he can control like that, I wouldn't be shocked if there were corrupt officials within." Lin Mu explained.
Adviser Liu and King Hong understood what Lin Mu meant and nodded their heads.
"Seems like we were this close to drowning and we would have never even realized it had it not been for you, senior Lin Mu." This time King Hong addressed him with even more respect.
"It is fine, King Hong. After all, this is what I set out to do. I want to prevent Gu Yao from completing his goals and I want your help in it as well." Lin Mu proposed formally.
~clap~
King Hong cupped his fists formally and spoke, "you have my word now, senior Lin Mu. You have saved the Hong Lin Kingdom from a grave disaster.
And seeing the severe implications of it, I don't think we will be able to keep ourselves away from the muddied water. It is best that we join you now."
Lin Mu nodded his head in approval, as this was exactly what he had set out to achieve.
"I'm happy that we could come to an agreement." Lin Mu spoke.
"This is great!" Hua Wu chimed in as well.
"Forgive me senior Lin Mu, but i need to get the things in order quickly. Can you pardon my leave?" Adviser Liu asked.
"Sure, please go ahead and do what you have to do, adviser Liu." Lin Mu replied.
"Thank you once again." Adviser Liu said while cupping his hand.
He then rushed out of the court hurriedly. Midway, his expression turned fierce and one could imagine the anger boiling over in the heart of the man. After all, today he had been through a lot. Not only did they find out about a massive plot to take over the entire great Zhou empire, but also about people being controlled.
And now that he learned that there were other corrupt officials as well, Adviser Liu's cap had blown off finally.
~Sigh~
King Hong sighed once again, and he now seemed a bit more fatigued.
"Perhaps King Hong should focus on his breakthrough for now. We shall wait here for today, at least till things get somewhat in order and nothing problematic occurs." Lin Mu said.
"If you can do that I will be grateful, Senior Lin Mu." King Hong stated.
"I believe you two are fine with this as well?" Lin Mu questioned Hua San and Hua Wu.
"We shall follow the words of senior Lin Mu." The two answers right away.
And with this, Lin Mu had added another ally to his alliance… this time an entire kingdom.
