"It is decided then…

" Lin Mu said while looking at everyone.

"Shantung will be given one Core Hatching pill to break through to the Nascent Soul realm.

" He continued.

All the members of the alliance nodded their heads, and this matter was passed.

"I'll write a message to Shantung right now and ask a servant to send it there. He should respond quickly.

" Mu Niu responded.

"Yes, please do that.

" Lin Mu replied.

Mu Niu took his leave to do the task that was assigned to him and came back within five minutes.

"Once Shantung comes, we will ask him to take the oath and then give him the Core Hatching Pill.

" Lin Mu stated.

The Core Hatching Pill was a high grade alchemical pill whose sole function was to help a core condensation realm cultivator breakthrough. It did exactly what its name said and helped in the hatching of the core of the cultivator.

This was the part that most people had trouble in doing and their talent greatly dictated whether they would be able to do it without killing themselves. One could, of course, force their cores to hatch, but there was a great chance it might just end up cracking and exploding instead.

"Now then, till Shantung comes, we have the next matter to discuss. How will we be progressing from now?

" Jing Luo was the one who spoke this time.

"We definitely need a lot more allies than just us. We do have some big ones already, like the Hei corps, but we need to establish contact with them. And I do not know if we can do that right now with the chaos in the Shuang Qian kingdom.

" Lin Mu spoke.

"The Hei corps… Young master Wu Hei… I remember when he came to visit us back then. He was merely seventeen years old, I think.

" Mu Niu spoke.

This caught Lin Mu's attention and his ears perked up.

"Oh? You met him?

" Lin Mu questioned.

"Yes, a few of the Mu clan members met him. He even stayed in our clan for two days before continuing on his journey. I remember Uncle Di had a great time discussing business and politics with him back then.

" Mu Niu said with a hint of nostalgia in his voice.

"Who's Uncle Di?

" Lin Mu asked. He had heard the name twice now and was wondering who that person was.

"Uncle Di is Mu Tao's grandfather. The patriarch before his father.

" Mu Niu spoke.

Mu Tao had moist eyes upon hearing the mention of it all but tried to keep a calm expression.

"I see.

" Lin Mu muttered.

"I never would have thought that the boy from back then would be linked to something this huge now.

" Mu Niu said with a sigh.

"Fate and destiny are favorite toys of the heavens. Who knows when they will become twisted.

" Lin Mu said, reciting one of the favorite quotes of the Lost immortal.

Lin Mu had read the man reciting these lines at least a few hundred times till now in the memoirs of the Lost immortal. Since the Lost immortal had the Broken Fate Physique, he often had misfortunes and tragedies.

Things would be going well for a while before he would end up with a set back suddenly. But even then, as much as he wanted to hate his luck, he could not. But he also didn't know that he had something called the Broken Fate physique, or he would have surely cursed the heavens all day and night.

"Didn't you say that the Hei corps had their outposts in several places all over the empire?

" Jing Luo suddenly asked.

"Oh, yes there are. But there are not many in the southern part of the empire and I don't know if the one closest to us is even active or not. One of the last orders Wu Hei passed was to send all of Hei corps members into hiding.

" Lin Mu replied.

"If we are already grasping at straws, then we may as well try this out anyway.

" Jing Luo suggested.

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

"True, but we should also get some information about the situation of Wu Hei and even Wu Xun at the capital city first. We don't know fully what happened after the incident with the Tri Cauldron Peony sect either.

" Lin Mu replied after thinking for a bit.

"I'll try to see if there is any updated information from the Northern lands.

" Jingming Shang spoke.

"I'll see if there are any suspected leads on the Hei corps. Since Gu Yao made them out to be the criminals, there are open bounties on them. If there are any suspected sightings, we might be able to find them.

Besides, they would never suspect that we are trying to find them to help them and not kill them.

" Miss Fen spoke up.

"Alright. Once we have some information, we will be able to proceed further. Till then we need to consolidate and increase our own strengths.

" Lin Mu replied.

They knew that the Fen clan and the Mu clan needed to grow a lot stronger to even be able to fight against Gu Yao and then the Northern Alliance. Right now, Lin Mu's presence had merely given them the opportunity to grow till that point.

Just when all of them had finished the discussion, a servant knocked on the door.

"Council member Shantung has arrived.

" The servant spoke from the outside.

"Just in time.

" Jing Luo commented.

"Come in,

" Lin Mu called out.

~Creak~

The door of the room opened and in walked Shantung with his son. The two of them seemed to be quite nervous and didn't know fully what they were called here for. Mu Niu had merely mentioned that they had been called by Lin Mu.

They had already seen the strength of Lin Mu and dared not to make him wait any longer.

"What have you called us for, senior?

" Shantung questioned.

"I have called you here so that you can break through to the Nascent Soul realm.

" Lin Mu said with a straight face.