Chapter 697 - Talking With Jing Luo

"Huh, it's already morning." Lin Mu spoke as he saw the sky starting to redden.

"It is morning." Little Shrubby replied.

All around them, one could see bones and utensils lying around. It was evident that they had eaten a lot and had spent a lot of time in that as well. But despite the large amount of food the two of them had eaten, neither of them looked to be stuffed.

Rather, they looked normal and could even eat more. But Lin Mu knew it was enough for today and that he should get back to work.

"Well, that was a great night. We'll do it again sometime later. But now we need to find more Hong Lin trees…" But just as Lin Mu said this, he felt the Jade slip hum in the ring. "Or not…" 

Lin Mu took out the jade slip and saw that it was Jing Luo who had messaged him. 

"Where are you?" Jing Luo questioned.

"I'm in the forest." Lin Mu answered.

"Why are you in the forest? Weren't you looking for the clues to the Hei corps?" Jing Luo asked feeling a bit confused.

"It's a long story…" Lin Mu said. "It'll be better if I explain to you in person." He added.

"Alright, I'll wait for you." Jing Luo replied.

Lin Mu then looked at Little Shrubby and spoke, "seems like I'm gonna have to pause this excursion for a bit."

Little Shrubby nodded and spoke, "I'll continue searching for more Hong Lin trees then." 

"Yes, that'll be good." Lin Mu said before flying away in the direction of the Hong Lin capital.

In about an hour, he reached the city and directly went to the courtyard they had rented for the time being. Since they had not taken any servants for service, the courtyard was empty.

~Creak~

The door of the room Jing Luo was staying in opened, and Lin Mu walked in. In there, he could see Jing Luo sitting on a mat on the ground while meditating. It was evident that he was still comprehending the information that Lin Mu had passed on to him.

'I'll wait till he is done…' Lin Mu thought to himself and sat down as well.

While doing this, he spread his spirit sense around and checked the city for any changes or anything interesting that may have happened. An hour passed like this and Jing Luo Finally woke up, prompting Lin Mu to withdraw his spirit sense.

"Are you done?" Lin Mu asked.

"Not even close. Now that I got a better look at the knowledge, I understand just how vast it is. It'll take me months to fully even go through it not to mention comprehend it. The more I learn the more I feel that it gets complex and I feel like the path in front of me which was nearly completed, extends further." Jing Luo replied.

"No wonders, Jing Wei and Duan Ke preferred going to the Ancestral ground." Lin Mu replied.

"Indeed. This is something that I think will take me years to fully comprehend." Jing Luo stated.

"I see… so you are taking a break I guess?" Lin Mu asked.

"Yes, I wanted to see how your investigation was going." Jing Luo replied.

~Sigh~

Lin Mu sighed to himself before he began his explanation about all that had happened till now. He spoke about the missing Hei Corps, the situation with the King of the Hong Lin Kingdom, his uncle and the two Nascent Soul disciples that had come in the search for the thousand year old Hong Lin wood.

After Lin Mu finished explaining everything, Jing Luo furrowed his brows and thought to himself. Lin Mu also let him think on his own and after five minutes Jing Luo spoke again.

"So I'm guessing you want to take advantage of this?" Jing Luo asked.

"Indeed. This will be the perfect opportunity for us to gain an ally not only in the Hong Lin kingdom but those two Nascent Soul disciples too. I don't know what sect they are from, but they are certainly from a top ten sect.

Plus I can confirm that they are not under the influence of Gu Yao either. They don't have the same aura as the people who are controlled." Lin Mu replied.

"Hmm… those two disciples… can you describe them to me?" Jing Luo questioned.

"Alright," Lin Mu said before telling Jing Luo the appearance of the two disciples and how they all conversed.

"Wait did you just say they talked about Sect Master Hua?" Jing Luo questioned.

"Yes, they did." Lin Mu confirmed.

"Huh… if I recall correctly there is only one person named Hua that is also a sect master in all of the top sects… the sect master of the Noon Grass sect." Jing Luo replied.

"The Noon Grass sect! Really?" Lin Mu questioned.

"It should be. I doubt any other sect changed their sect master over the past fifty or so years. And even if they did, I doubt they would have the same name too." Jing Luo answered.

"Hmm… this is an even better opportunity than I thought. Actually… this might even be better than meeting up with the Hei corps." Lin Mu spoke.

Jing Luo thought for a bit before replying.

"Depending on how we play this out, we can spread a rather wide net and gain multiple Allies I think. If we satisfy the two disciples and the King as well, we may get to inquire more about the Hei Corps's disappearance.

Even if they are not on the record, I'm sure the people who actually did the investigation should know better." Jing Luo stated.

Lin Mu thought over it and found it to be reasonable.

"I guess so… but we will have to play our cards right. I'm pretty sure they will find it suspicious if we directly go and talk to the two disciples about helping them, especially since I have literally spied on them.." Lin Mu replied.