When Hua Wu and Hua San reported to the Noon Grass sect, they were met with great acceptance. Them finding the Thousand year old Hong Lin wood was the same as giving the supreme elder a new lease on life.
This was enough to win the hearts of the elders, and they asked what the two disciples wanted for a reward. Of course, the two of them asked what Lin Mu had requested of them. This came as a shock to the elders of the Noon grass sect and even their master, Daoist Hua was a bit taken aback.
They gave them the summary of all that had happened and told them that they should meet Lin Mu. Daoist Hua being the patriarch had to be a bit more cautious of course and asked them for more things in detail before finally agreeing to it.
Though what he was more intrigued by was none other than Lin Mu. From all that he had heard, this boy was the same Lin Mu that was wanted on the entire continent by now and had created great havoc before.
And hearing that he was already at the Dao Shell realm at his age was the most shocking thing to Daoist Hua. At that point, even if it were not for the situation with Gu Yao or the alliance, Daoist Hua would still insist on meeting him.
Finally, now that he was face to face with Lin Mu, Daoist Hua realized that what he had heard till now was not even half of it.
Daoist Hua was an experienced man and had seen a lot in the thousands of years he had lived. He could be considered to be of the same generation as that of Jing Wei, the grandfather of Jing Luo and the patriarch of the Jing Clan.
Even if he had guided his sect on a different path than most other sects and had chosen secrecy and facade as the face of it, he was not weak, nor was he foolish. He knew what it entailed for someone like Lin Mu to appear.
After all, even if someone was given unlimited resources, achieving what Lin Mu did was not easy to do alone. What it meant to Daoist Hua was that there was someone else guiding him.
And it was this very person that he was the most interested in. After all, for someone to be able to guide a junior like this from no cultivation to the Dao Shell realm was an achievement on its own.
For a teacher to have an outstanding student, he needed to be outstanding as well.
This was why Daoist Hua was a bit doubtful and wondered if the rumors mentioned by the Sky precepts sect about Lin Mu were true; that he was in fact an old man that had disguised himself. All content is property © .
But now that he checked it himself, he had found out the truth. And the truth was far more shocking than the falsehoods. Lin Mu had thought that Daoist Hua was checking his cultivation base, but that was not entirely correct.
What he was doing in reality, was checking his true age. It could be done through a few techniques that were used by sects to ensure that their disciples were within the limits prescribed by them.
Spirit tools were usually used for this, but Daoist Hua had individual techniques that could be used as well.
'It truly is like that… a twenty one year old Dao Shell realm cultivator… either this world is truly progressing, or someone is interfering in it.' Daoist Hua thought to himself.
Lin Mu on the other hand, wondered if Daoist Hua was just complimenting him as a formality or if he was being genuine.
"You surely jest, Elder Hua. I'm still many years junior in front of you." Lin Mu said humbly.
"Ahahaha! Good, good!" Daoist Hua instantly liked Lin Mu's response.
The one thing that Daoist Hua didn't like were arrogant disciples and cultivators that were talented. They thought that they were so talented that they deserved everything and took everything in granted.
But what Daoist Hua didn't like even more were those that faked being humble. He had enough experience to know who was faking and pretending to be humble, from who was truly humble.
And seeing Lin Mu, who was truly like that while being talented, as well made Daoist Hua feel pleased.
"Patriarch Hua, please come in. We'll talk in the court." King Hong suggested.
"Very well." Daoist Hua agreed as well.
Everyone entered the Royal court and took their seats. Daoist Hua was given a prominent position and so were the other elders. On the head of the table sat Lin Mu instead of King Hong, as he was the one with the strongest cultivation base and was also their leader.
Daoist Hua then went on to introduce the others that had come with him, including the five disciples he had. They were named Hua Yi, Hua Er, Hua San, Hua Si and Hua Wu; in the order of their seniority.
Of the five disciples, Lin Mu knew Hua San and Hua Wu of course. Hua Yi was the eldest disciple of them all and was at the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm. Lin Mu could sense the faint spirit Qi fluctuations coming from and found them to be a bit similar to that of Daoist Hua.
Even though they were faint, they still seemed to be powerful, similar to the old man.
'Seems like the eldest disciple is following the same cultivation technique as that of his master.' Lin Mu thought.
Hua Er on the other hand, was the only female disciple among the five and was at the Adolescent Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm. Hua San and Hua Si were at the Child Soul stage and finally, Hua Wu was at the Infant soul stage.
Though it seemed like Hua Wu was close to a breakthrough as well.
'The pills and herbs might have helped him a lot more than I thought..' Lin Mu thought.