Getting the answer from Jing Luo, Lin Mu decided to leave right away.
~BOOM~
He stomped his foot on the ground and shot up, creating a crater on the ground. Drawing an arc in the air, Lin Mu descended towards a lake below him.
~Swoosh~
Flames started burning on his body and quickly turned the tattered robes he was wearing into ash.
~SPLASH~
Finally, he fell into the water with a splash and disappeared. When he reappeared though, he was standing in his courtyard and was dressed in some fresh robes. He took a look in the bronze mirror kept on the shelf and quickly took out a ribbon before tying his hair back.
Usually, he kept his hair open, but decided that since he would be meeting up with the other two sects, it was better to be a bit presentable.
"Let's head to the hall…" Lin Mu muttered as he stepped out of the courtyard and flew towards the main hall of the sect.
He reached there in less than a minute and saw it being populated by a lot of people he had not seen before. They were wearing different types of robes and Lin Mu guessed that they should be the elders of the two other sects of Long Cloud alliance.
The people of the Black Dune sect were wearing loose robes with hoods at the back, while the people of the Light Harmony Sect wore yellow and white robes with a leaf pattern on the back.
This was the general design of the robes, and depending on the status of the members, they had some minor differences. Lin Mu saw two men talking with Patriarch You Yi and guessed that they should be the patriarchs of the two sects.
The Patriarch of the Black Dune sect was not wearing a hood, and his face could be fully see. He looked to be a little older than middle aged and had some scars on his face and neck.
While the Patriarch of the Light Harmony sect was an old man that looked to be in his sixties. He was not as old liking as Patriarch Hua and could be considered to be a junior among the other patriarchs.
Even the Black Dune sect patriarch that looked younger than the Light Harmony Sect Patriarch was older than him.
Lin Mu's arrival did not go unnoticed by the others either, and they took a look at him as well.
"Hahaha, Patriarch You Yi was not lying. The young man is indeed talented." The Patriarch of the Light Harmony sect said genially.
The Black Dune sect Patriarch however, frowned.
"Young man…" He spoke, catching Lin Wu's attention. "TAKE MY BLOW!" The patriarch suddenly yelled before punching out.
~BOOM~
The elders in the room were all pushed back a few steps as an illusory figure of a bull shot out of the Black Dune Sect's Patriarch. Lin Mu's eyes went wide, as he had not expected this at all.
"What in the world…" Lin Mu said as he directly disappeared.
~CRASH~
The illusory bull ran forward and ended up crashing into the walls of the hall and fading away. If it were not for the fact that the walls were very strong and layered with defensive and durability formation arrays, there was no chance they would have survived.
Jing Luo stared daggers at the Black Dune sect patriarch and had already drawn out several spirit weapons.
"What is the meaning of this!?" He questioned.
But the patriarch did not respond at all, simply looking for Lin Mu.
~shing~
"Yes… what is the meaning of this?" A voice asked from behind the man.
He felt a cold edge at the back of his neck and realized that there was a sword resting there. The elders who saw it all were stunned.
"H-how… how did he get there?" someone wondered.
Lin Mu was standing right behind the black Dune sect patriarch and had the short sword at the man's neck. The man tried to move, but felt the sword press harder on his skin.
Surprisingly, the sword could not cut it even though it was a high grade spirit sword. Lin Mu took note of it and sensed the faint spirit Qi circuits flowing over the man's skin.
'A defensive technique… not on the level of mortal strengthening scripture, but still rather strong.' Lin Mu guessed.
"Lower your sword, junior Lin Mu." The Patriarch of the Light Harmony sect spoke.
"Yes, please do. This is simply the way Patriarch Shandian is. He likes to test people and only if he finds them worthy enough will he deal with them." You Yi explained.
Lin Mu narrowed his eyes while Jing Luo looked on awkwardly. He had done something similar when he first met Lin Mu, though the circumstances were also different back then so he couldn't exactly tell if it was even appropriate in this setting.
"Fine… but know that I do not like acts like these. You wanna test me and spar? That's okay. But if you do something like this again, I will not hesitate!" Lin Mu sternly said.
It was one of the things that Lin Mu hated. He was trying to forge an alliance and acts like these only lowered his confidence in people. Jing Luo had been trying to get him to have faith in people more and allow them to do their part, but things liker his only made that difficult.
Lin Mu sheathed the short sword, but did not store it in the ring like usual. Sliding it down the side of his waist, the sword quickly tied itself to the waistband.
The Black Dune sect patriarch looked at Lin Mu with an equally stern expression for a few seconds before it drastically changed.
"AHAHAHA! GOOD! GOOD!" He laughed out loud, completely changing his demeanor.
"Why don't you join my sect? You'll be the next patriarch." He offered, shocking everyone in the hall.
Hearing this Lin Mu was completely taken aback and didn't know how to react.
"Wha…"
