Lin Mu's familiarity was somewhat expected at this point due to him having won the Tournament.

With how far the news had spread, there would be no major city in the Rust Sky World that would not have at least heard of his name once. Plus, with the visitors from the other worlds that had come to witness the event, his name would have been carried over to the other worlds too.

Still hearing it from Lady Kang herself was a unique experience.

"You know me?" Lin Mu asked.

"I do." Lady Kang replied. "I saw your fight as well." She added.

"Oh, looks like Lady Kang paid attention to Daoist Mu Lin too." Qiao De smirked. "I wouldn't be surprised if she had picked him as a candidate too… though that would be too much of a coincidence." He chuckled.

"Haha, that would certainly be interesting." Crown Prince Feng Shun laughed as well, thinking it would be too far-fetched.

No one knew though how correct they were.

Lady Kang merely looked at them with an expressionless face, but internally she hadn't expected that Lin Mu had indeed been picked by all three parties.

'Guess a star can only be hidden for a short while.' Lady Kang thought to herself. 'Still, he's here now so it doesn't matter who brought him.'

She still remembered the skills that Lin Mu had shown before.

'Though he didn't use all of them in the Tournament for some reason.' Lady Kang recalled how Lin Mu had saved a few people from the Saber Battle Union. 'He can use Spatial Skills and yet he didn't use them even once in the tournament… He had been holding back.' She thought.

Lady Kang couldn't help but think that if Lin Mu had won the Tournament while he was holding back all that time, what would happen if he had used his Spatial skills.

'Those fights would have become a joke… Even the Third Prince Feng Baxing would have had no chance to win.' Lady Kang was perhaps the person that knew the most about Lin Mu's skills here; even more so than Crown Prince Feng Shun.

She had been observing Lin Mu silently for a while now and had been keeping tabs on him too. Though it was another thing that she hadn't interacted with him directly before. "I'll go rest for now." Lady Kang said, wishing to end the talks.

"Of course, Lady Kang. Feel free." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "We'll keep you informed in case anything happens." He added.

"Very well." Lady Kang said before taking her leave along with the maid Min Ju and Elder Ho.

It was clear that they were not intent on staying and interacting with the others for the time being.

Lin Mu and the others didn't find it strange though, as she was unfamiliar with them in the first place. Plus Lady Kang seemed to be a bit reserved in nature too on some level.

With her gone, the group sat for a few more hours and talked. It wasn't until it was midnight that they decided to retire.

"I'll be up on the deck, so you can feel free to come up whenever you want. I'll have to control the ship." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "Is it fine for you to do it alone?" Lin Mu asked. "Won't you be exhausted?" "It's nothing. I'm not fueling it after all. I'm just making sure it stays on the course and adjusts according to the compass." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "And I've done several journeys like this before, so I'm not worried." He added.

"Ah, that's good." Lin Mu replied.

"I'll also stay up for the time being." Ziran stated. "I'd like to record the ecology of the oceans here as well as the beasts that live in it." "I'll go socialize… I'm sure I can find a few customers downstairs." Qiao De said feeling quite eager.

"Feel free." The Crown Prince had no reason to stop them.

Lin Mu too decided to leave as he had a few things he wished to do in the time they had.

'We have a few weeks till we reach the islands… May as well cultivate and test out some things.' Lin Mu thought to himself, as he went downstairs.

When he went there though, he saw Qiao De mingling with the people in the meeting hall. 'Huh, just like he said, he really is selling things.' Lin Mu thought to himself.

Since not everyone was going to cultivate all the time, they would go to the meeting hall and talk. Qiao De took that as an opportunity to sell all the things he had brought with him. He was a merchant through and through and was now selling items like pills, talismans and other things they might need on the expedition.

The members of the expedition were also open to buying them as they were of a much better quality than they would normally get. Qiao De even got a few immortal tools and weapons that they might find interesting. In addition to that, he was also willing to buy their own tools and weapons, in case they did not have enough Immortal stones to pay with.

'He really brought an entire shop with him, huh…' Lin Mu thought to himself.

Perhaps the only other person other than Qiao De who had more items with them at the moment was none other than Lin Mu himself. He was carrying so many items in his ring that even he did not know at this point. And that was exactly the thing that he wished to rectify.

'I best sort all the items out before the expedition. It'll help in case of emergencies if I know what things I have.' Lin Mu thought to himself.

Because he had also taken a lot of Spatial Storage tools from others, which he had never checked properly, Lin Mu reckoned he had a lot of untouched items hidden in the ring. There were also a lot of items that Lin Mu Knew he had, but didn't know the quantity of them.

While thinking all this, Lin Mu went down to the second floor, which was the main residential floor. Shortly after walking past a couple of corridors, Lin Mu spotted a man in maroon armor.

"Elder Ho?" Lin Mu muttered as he saw the man standing in front of a room.

~Creak~

The door opened and Min Ju walked out from inside.

"Daoist Mu Lin." It was as if Min Ju had been waiting for him.

"Uh, yes?" Lin Mu wondered what she wanted.

"Lady Kang has invited you to the room." Min Ju stated.

"Okay… is there a specific reason?" Lin Mu asked, finding it a bit strange.

"She'll explain it to you in private." Min Ju said with a calm face.

"Alright." Lin Mu reckoned there wasn't any harm in seeing the woman.

Elder Ho glanced at Lin Mu silently, but didn't do anything else.

'Weird…' Lin Mu thought before Min Ju opened the door for him.

"Please," She said, letting him in.

Lin Mu gave a nod and walked inside, the door shutting behind him.

~thud~

Once he was inside though, the silent armored man spoke.

"Is it fine for him to be here?" Elder Ho spoke, his voice rather heavy and deep.

"It's the Lady's decision, I cannot question it." Min Ju replied. "Hmm… That man is strange… I cannot figure out what is wrong with him though." Elder Ho stated.

"In what way?" Min Ju asked, furrowing her brows.

"He seems to be hiding his strength, but there is no reason for it." Elder Ho stated. "There is also this aura around him… An aura of unfathomable presence." He added as his tone became lighter. is the owner.

Min Ju didn't reply, but looked at the door. "Perhaps… that is the reason why Lady Kang chose him?" Min Ju replied.

"Possibly… But for any man like that to be close to the Lady… Especially with her condition does not seem good." Elder Ho stated. "It is hard for men to resist her."

"I'm sure Lady Kang knows better than us about her condition. She'll be careful about it and has been for a long time." Min Ju said, trying to assuage the elder's worries. "Besides, Daoist Mu Lin has shown no drastic reaction to her so far. I think we'll be fine." She added, looking at the silent man.

"Is that why you decided to join at the last moment?" Min Ju questioned.

"Yes… The others at the clan were not sure of letting Lady Kang go out alone like that." Elder Ho replied. "Though I'm sorry that her journey got delayed because of me." He added.

"The Lady does not mind that at all." Min Ju said. "Besides, it was her choice to have someone from the clan join in since she could not recruit Daoist Mu Lin in time." ~Sigh~

"Let's hope it all goes well. Lady Kang is far too precious to us and the clan." Elder Ho said, looking at the door.