"He's… he's… moving!" Hua Wu said out loud.
Lin Mu and the rest ended up waiting about twelve hours, after which the old man moved for the first time. Their attention went to the old man and they could see his fingers trembling.
After a few more minutes, his face started to twitch as well and then his eyes opened with great difficultly.
~HUU~
The old man took in a breath and looked around with his hazy and glazed eyes. One of his eyes was possibly blind already, as there was a cloudy layer on it. His left eye though, looked to be fine enough.
The former adviser noticed the people sitting in front of him and for a second there, a strong wave of spirit Qi emanated from him.
Everyone except for Lin Mu trembled at the pressure that was exuded by the old man in that moment and a cold sweat broke on their backs and foreheads.
"That… strong…" Hua San muttered.
The pressure that the old man had just emanated was no less than some of the elders of his sect that he had met. This was a lot compared to most cultivators that did not belong to sects.
~gulp~
Hua Wu and Adviser Liu couldn't help but swallow their saliva upon feeling that pressure. King Hong, on the other hand, didn't really feel it accurately since he was not at the Nascent soul realm like the others.
While he did feel the spirit Qi fluctuation, he did not feel the oppressiveness from it. Lin Mu on the other hand, only felt like a breeze of wind passed by him. Though he was aware that this was emanated by the old man.
Lin Mu stepped forward and spoke, "can you hear me adviser Chu?"
The old man slowly lifted his gaze and looked into Lin Mu's eyes. Lin Mu felt as if the old man could almost peer through him and gaze into his soul. It made him shudder a bit, but he held on.
~Sigh~
The old man let out a sigh and lightly shook his head.
"The youth… overcome the elderly…" the old man said for the first time.
Hearing the hoarse and old voice of the man, Lin Mu felt uneasy. He was once again reminded of the mortality of humans and the limitations that they had. His determination to grow stronger was reaffirmed again.
King Hong and adviser Liu also came forward and kneeled on the ground before cupping their hands and lowering their heads.
"It is a great honor to meet you again, Adviser Chu. I am Hong Liu," Adviser Liu introduced himself first.
"And I am King Hong Qiqiang, grandson of King Hong Liqiang." King Hong said, relating himself to the king two generations ago.
Since he had never seen the adviser Chu before, there was no chance he would recognize him. Even his father's name might not do well since the man was very old and he didn't know if his memory would allow him to remember his father.
After all, when adviser Chu held his position, it was during his grandfather's and great grandfather's time.
After hearing these words, the old man did not respond and simply stared emptily at the people.
"How long has it been?" The Old man questioned.
"It has been two hundred years since the reign of King Liqiang, adviser Chu." King Hong answered.
~Sigh~
"It has been too long… I have been on this earth for far too long." The old man spoke in melancholy.
"If adviser Chu allows it, we would like to formally venerate you in the ancestral temple. We know that your lifespan is at its end and there is little we can do, but we can't afford to let your contributions go to a waste." King Hong spoke.
"Spare me the trivialities child… I have seen far too many of them in my time… speak, what is it that you need? This chamber is not something anyone should have discovered unless I was dead." Adviser Chu spoke in a calm voice.
"This… we have a request of you." King Hong spoke, calculating his words.
Adviser Chu looked at King Hong's face and suddenly spoke, "you want to ask me about the wandering SinkHole don't you?"
Hearing this, King Hong and adviser Liu were shocked and wondered if the old man had read their minds.
"How did you…?" King Hong muttered in surprise.
"When you've lived as long as I have, making prediction becomes easier. Besides, there are very few things that would be worth getting from me and my knowledge about the Wandering Sinkhole is the only thing that might be worth this effort.
I do not know how you managed to wake me up like this as I was sure my meridians had already shut most of my body down." Adviser Chu explained.
"I see… well yes, we do want information about the wandering sinkhole." Lin Mu was the one to speak this time.
"Hmm… fine. I'll tell you all that I know… I don't know how much time I have right now anyway." The old man stated.
Hearing this, the ears of everyone in the room perked up and they got ready to listen to it.
The old man closed his eyes for a couple of minutes and seemed to be meditating. Only after he was done with it did, he opens his eyes.
"The wandering Sinkhole is a unique phenomenon that occurs in the Hong Lin forest. Most people think of it as a mystery or even a curse. But in reality, it is nothing but the entrance to a minor plane.
I entered it accidentally when I was a teenage lad and fell into it. Thankfully, I fell into a body of water and managed to survive otherwise I would have been dead. But even then, a fall from that height into straight water was not without injuries.
I broke several of my bones and got a lot of bruises in the process." The old man said and took a pause, his breath heavy.
