"Senior Lin Mu!" someone called out.
"He's out!" a disciple spoke,
Lin Mu walked towards the small group of disciple that were waiting near his courtyard and could guess why they were here.
"Has the patriarch arrived already?" Lin Mu questioned.
"Y-yes Senior! They arrived yesterday. Senior Jing Luo tried to contact you but you were unresponsive thus they sent us here to wait for you." The disciples answered.
"Alright. Where are they now?" Lin Mu asked.
"They are at the main hall, senior. They've been there since they arrived and have been waiting for you." The disciple directed.
"Thank you." Lin Mu said before flying to the main hall of the sect.
The courtyard that he was living in was on the same peak as the main hall, thus he didn't have to go far. In fact, the main hall could be seen from the courtyard itself, since it was located at the very top.
In just a minute, Lin Mu was already at the front of the hall.
~CREAK~
The doors of the hall opened for him automatically, and Lin Mu walked in.
Several pairs of eyes looked at him upon entering, a variety of expressions visible in them.
"Welcome Junior Lin Mu!" Patriarch Hua greeted in a loud voice.
"Welcome, Senior Lin Mu!"
"Welcome Brother Lin Mu!"
One by one, everyone started to greet him in their own method and according to the rank they had. Lin Mu could see that there were some people that were not of the Noon Grass sect here too.
Those people didn't greet him right away and seemed to be watching in silence instead.
"Were you busy? You didn't respond yesterday." Jing Luo asked with concern.
"You could say that, yes. I was working on something and learned a few things." Lin Mu replied.
"Oh? You did?" Jing Luo asked feeling interested.
"Yes. I believe Elder Pigu would like this." Lin Mu said before withdrawing a jade slip from his ring.
"OH! Is it what I think it is?" Elder Pigu asked with excitement.
"Yes, it's the details about the Purple Sickle Amaranth." Lin Mu replied.
"Excellent! I can't wait to read it." Elder Pigu replied and took the jade slip from Lin Mu.
He briefly scanned through the jade slip and felt pleased at the new information.
"This will be a very important contribution to the study of spirit herbs and alchemy. I'll ask the disciples to add this to our library right away." Elder Pigu said in a content tone.
This conversation had pulled the attention of the three people that were not from the Noon Grass sect. Lin Mu couldn't tell if they were from some other sect or not, since they were not wearing a uniform.
"Oh? May we ask what kind of discovery this is?" One of the men questioned.
"Ahahaha, you might be pleased to know that Brother Lin Mu discovered a new kind of spirit herb. This should be the characteristic and proprieties of that spirit herb." Supreme elder Hua Langya spoke.
"And who might you all be?" Lin Mu questioned, wanting to know more about the three guests.
"Allow me to introduce them, Junior Lin Mu." It was at this time that Patriarch Hua spoke up.
"Please," Lin Mu gestured to continue.
"This is Elder Boqin, Elder Peizhi and Elder Wenyan." Patriarch Hua Introduced.
"I am the external affairs elder of Long Cloud sect." Elder Boqin stated.
"I am the guest elder of Long Cloud sect." Elder Peizhi spoke.
"I am also a guest elder of Long Cloud sect." Elder Wenyan spoke.
"Greetings to the three elders of the Long Cloud sect." Lin Mu said while cupping his hands.
The three elders seemed pleased at the respectful attribute shown by Lin Mu and had felt far better than before.
"Since you three are here, I'm guessing Patriarch Hua managed to convince the sect?" Lin Mu questioned.
"Hmm… we are almost there." Patriarch Hua said, surprising Lin Mu.
While he had expected obstacles in this, seeing three elders from the Long Cloud sect made him think otherwise.
"What is the issue?" Lin Mu asked straight away.
"I'd like to speak about this." Elder Boqin stated.
Patriarch Hua gestured for the man to go ahead and he nodded.
"We've heard the concerns of Patriarch Hua and the stand of the Noon Grass sect but we still have some doubts. The request for an alliance will not be made until those doubts are resolved." Elder Boqin spoke.
"Might I ask what these doubts are?" Lin Mu questioned. "I'll try my best to resolve them."
"Elder Peizhi," Elder Boqin gestured to the next man.
The elder took out a long scroll in response to this and opened it for everyone too see. On it, Lin Mu could see a portrait of none other than himself. But that was not all, there was a lot of text written underneath it and at the bottom, two more smaller portraits could be seen.
Upon seeing those two portrait though, Lin Mu's expression tensed and a slight frown appeared on his face.
"While Patriarch Hua did explain to us that you have been framed and that there is a conspiracy from one Gu Yao. We still cannot help but be careful." Elder Peizhi spoke.
"Didn't patriarch Hua give you the proofs of all that has happened? Even the formation of your alliance was only due to the machination of Gu Yao." Lin Mu replied.
"Our sect is not that stupid that it would play according to the whims of some random man." Elder Wenyan scoffed.
"Junior Lin Mu didn't mean that, Elder Wenyan." Patriarch Hua hurriedly said.
"No, the Long cloud sect is not stupid." Lin Mu said, before continuing. "It is simply ignorant."
"You!…" Elder Wenyan and the other two seemed rather upset upon hearing this.
"The sects have become far too complacent after years of peace. They do not see danger even when its right in front of them.." Lin Mu said frankly, agitating the three elders even more and stunning the rest in the hall.
