Lin Mu was just about to restart the process of refinement when he stopped in his tracks.
"Someone's outside." Lin Mu sensed a presence.
"Indeed… Looks like you have someone calling for you." Xukong could also sense it.
"Hmm, it is the last day so perhaps they've probably called me to discuss something." Lin Mu guessed. "Though there's also a chance that we've reached the islands already. Reaching a day early is still possible." He reckoned.
It was a reasonable thing, as the Crown Prince probably wanted to get things revised for their group. After all, the expedition was not a simple thing and involved a lot of unseen dangers. It was best that they were all prepared to take on all the obstacles that came in their path.
Lin Mu had been through enough unexpected situations than to take them lightly.
~Sigh~
"For now, just two cores' progress is good enough. I can always resume it when I have free time." Lin Mu muttered to himself, before leaving the ring.
~shua~
He opened his eyes back in the room and got up from the bed.
~Creak~
The door opened under his command, revealing none other than Daoist Chu.
"We wondered if you were deep in cultivation. Though thankfully you woke up early enough." Daoist Chu said, taking a look at Lin Mu.
"Are we there already?" Lin Mu asked, wondering if they had traveled faster than he had thought. is the owner.
"No, not yet." Daoist Chu shook his head. "There's something else." He added, his tone a bit strange.
"Huh?" Lin Mu could sense something was wrong.
"It's best you come up. The Crown Prince will be explaining it for all ten of us." Daoist Chu spoke, knowing what Lin Mu was thinking.
"Alright." Lin Mu replied leaving the room with Daoist Chu.
Lin Mu glanced around the corridors, finding all of them to be empty and the rooms to be closed.
"So the others are still busy cultivating." Lin Mu said.
"Yeah, we didn't disturb them. This matter doesn't concern them anyways." Daoist Chu replied, raising Lin Mu's interest.
They went up to the first floor with the large meeting hall, which was also empty. This was a bit surprising, as there were always a few people mingling when they felt bored. Perhaps because it was so close to the expedition, none of them wanted to be unprepared and tried to be in their most optimum state.
Lin Mu and Daoist Chu finally reached the deck, the rust colored sky finally becoming visible. With how bright the sky was, it was clear that it was in the middle of the afternoon. The sky also seemed to be clear, with almost no clouds seen for over a hundred kilometers.
'Strange… isn't this part of the ocean supposed to be filled with almost perpetual storms?' Lin Mu recalled what he had read previously.
"Come on up," Crown Prince Feng Shun called them from the observation deck, leaning over the side.
"Greetings, Lady Kang." Lin Mu said to the woman, seeing her after almost a month.
She was sitting at the table gracefully with the others, and looked up at Lin Mu, peering into his eyes. A slight smile appeared on her face, unseen by others, before retreating like a flash. Lin Mu reciprocated and took his seat at the table along with Daoist Chu.
The people at the table looked at the Crown Prince, wondering what was going on. Though some of them, like Daoist Chu, and Qiao De, already seemed to be aware of it while the Maid Min Ju and Elder Ho were unconcerned.
"What's happening?" Lin Mu asked.
~huu~
In response, the Crown Prince took a deep breath, making the other furrow their brows.
"A war." The Crown Prince revealed, making the expressions of everyone change a bit.
"A war? Where?" Lin Mu asked, feeling confused.
"Don't tell me it's between the empires?" Crown Princess Shang asked.
"It's not the empires… A war has broken out in the Eight Kingdom Alliance." Crown Prince Feng Shun revealed.
"What?" Lin Mu hadn't expected that. "Why?"
"They are still looking into the details, but I just got the message an hour ago. I was waiting on more details before telling you all, but something Qiao De said concerned me." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "Hence, I decided to call you out earlier than expected." He said before looking at Qiao De.
"The Eight Kingdom Alliance might be an alliance, but they've had their own internal conflicts. Plus, due to their unique geography, they do not have the same kind of unity that the other continents do.
As such, they were never able to turn into a proper empire. I think this much is something most of us know here." Qiao De started to speak.
"Yes." Lin Mu nodded his head.
He had been in the Eight Kingdom alliance for a while after all, or more accurately, inside the Sea of Muxuan.
"The balance between the Eight Kingdoms of the alliance was mostly maintained through diplomacy, but the true factors behind it were their powerhouses. But about a year ago, there were rumors that three such powerhouses had mysteriously died." Qiao De revealed, making everyone listen on in interest.
"Isn't that… Around the same time as the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts?" Ziran seemed to recall.
While he was not in the Rust Sky world at that time, Qiao De had still updated him on all the recent matters that had happened in the Rust Sky World. Ziran himself had also asked the people on the ship more questions in an effort to learn more about the world.
It was mostly curiosity on his part as an explorer, and he also thought there was no harm in learning more about it all.
"Yes, it was at that time." Qiao De replied. "Or more accurately, that was when the first powerhouse was rumored to have died." He added.
"Do we have confirmation on these rumors, though?" Lady Kang spoke up for the first time.
They all knew rumors like these were often exaggerated and were merely created for some gains. Oftentimes they were not even true and were made to take advantage of the chaos that would happen from them.
"I've contacted the Imperial Court already. They will confirm it for me soon enough." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.
"We'll wait for that. But I'd like to hear more of what Qiao De has to say." Lady Kang replied.
"Of course." Qiao De said before coughing. "As I said, the powerhouses of the eight kingdoms were the reason why they were able to maintain a semblance of balance. While they had cross border conflicts and more, it never reached the level of a war.
But ever since the first rumor started, there was an increased tension between the kingdoms. More specifically, the two kingdoms Purple Sparrow Kingdom and the Great Wave Kingdom." He revealed.
Hearing those two names, Lin Mu's ears perked up.
'Huyun Chuan's kingdom was the Purple Sparrow Kingdom.' Lin Mu recalled the young aristocratic he had 'met' in the Land of Exile.
The man was the first person to have told him about the powers of the Rust Sky World as well as their dynamic. The reason for him being exiled was also a conflict between the Purple Sparrow Kingdom and the Great Wave kingdom.
"Weren't these two kingdoms already in some sort of conflict?" Monk Hushu suddenly spoke up. "I remember reading about it in one of the reports back when we were in the capital city." He added.
Since the Crown Prince's companions were helping him out, they had access to a lot of records and reports that came from all over the world. As such, they were decently updated on the matters.
"Yes, a significant diplomatic issue happened about four years ago, which led to the exile of a noble by the name of Huyun Chuan." Qiao De revealed, surprising Lin Mu.
'It's looping back to him, huh…' Lin Mu narrowed his eyes.
"He was sent to the Land of Exile in the middle of the sea of Muxuan as a way to placate the Great Wave kingdom." Qiao De spoke. "But much to their surprise—" before he could finish his words though, he was interrupted.
"He had made his return to the Purple Sparrow Kingdom secretly." Lin Mu uttered.
This time, it was the others' turn to be surprised.
"You know about this?" Qiao De didn't expect that.
"You can say that… I met someone who had seen Huyun Chuan before." Lin Mu replied, knowing he couldn't reveal the full truth.
Thankfully enough, the others didn't question it as they already had trust in him. Besides, they didn't think there would be any link between Lin Mu and the exiled man. It was far too apart to be a connection to them.
"Huyun Chuan had been in hiding but was discovered by some intelligence agents of the Black Candle pavilion branch there." Qiao De stated. "And of course… that branch sold the information to the Great Wave Kingdom."