"Who's that Young master?"

"Is he a lord?"

"Look at the large man!"

"Damn, his arms are as big as my waist! He can probably curl me with a finger." 

Chatter could be heard as various people observed Lin Mu and Jing Luo who had just entered the city. They had not even entered that far in and were the center of attention. 

Little Shrubby was not free from it either.

"AHH! SO CUTE!!!!!" 

"I WANT A CAT LIKE THAT TOO!"

"Do you think you can even afford that? That cat is a spirit beast at the Qi refining realm." 

Some of the girls couldn't hold back from crying and squealing upon seeing Little Shrubby who was nestled in Lin Mu's arms. The beast laid calmly as he observed everything with its red eyes that gleamed like rubies.

His red and black fur that was smooth and soft lightly waved in the breeze that was blowing, making him look only that much cuter.

~YIP~

But while the girls were having reactions like this, the animals and other beasts in the city were having different reactions. Lin Mu wasn't the only one with a spirit beast here as a pet, after all.

Other people could also be seen walking around with such spirit beast pets. Most of them were cultivators, though a few of them were also commoners who were rich merchants or from aristocratic clans.

All of their beasts were currently showing similar reactions.

The dog beasts let out scared yips and couldn't help but hide their bodies behind their owners.

"What happened Da Huang? Why are you acting like this?" A cultivator said to his dog.

His companion looked at it too and found it be acting very different from normal. 

"Is it… scared?" The companion said. "How can this be? Isn't he a Fierce Claw Spirit hound at the mid stage of the Qi refining realm?" 

"I don't know… he's usually very brave." The owner of the spirit beast said, unaware that a certain beast was staring at his pet.

Little Shrubby lightly glanced at the Fierce Claw Spirit hound and huffed.

~YEEEEEOOOO~

The Fierce Claw Spirit hound couldn't hold back anymore and ran away breaking its leash.

~thud~

The owner was also caught off guard and fell to the ground after being pulled along by the hound.

"Dammit!" The man could only curse before getting up and running after his beast.

~flick~

"Stop scaring the beasts. We don't want extra attention." Lin Mu flicked Little Shrubby's head.

"Okay… they looked at me weird…" Little Shrubby muttered.

Despite his cultivation base and aura being restrained, the other spirit beasts could still feel a strange pressure in the area. They were beast after all and their instincts screamed at them that it was not safe.

But once Lin Mu chided Little Shrubby, the beasts too found the pressure disappearing. 

"Perhaps it would have been better if I just sneaked in." Lin Mu spoke.

"That could have worked, but it would be bad in this situation. The Gu Legion will be looking out for spies but I doubt they'll be looking for two men at the core condensation entering the city. 

Besides, this is a common scene that happens all the time when some sect disciples enter the city or something. You're just not used to seeing it. It's not as big of a deal as you think. It won't alert anyone important either." Jing Luo explained.

"Oh? Really?" Lin Mu was surprised.

He had gotten so used to hiding all the time he felt strange at the attention, not knowing that others went through this too… although it might not be as much as his.

"Yeah. Don't worry." Jing Luo replied.

Lin Mu nodded his head, and they continued onwards to the inner district of the Capital.

This was the place where most of the aristocrats and rich people lived along with some of the more luxurious shops and establishments. 

Lin Mu and Jing Luo's destination was a certain hotel that was located somewhat closer to the residence of Wu Hei. 

Of course, by closer, they meant about a kilometer away. Wu Hei was still a minister of the Shuang Qian kingdom and thus his ranking was quite high. Even among the aristocrat he could be said to be several notches above.

Additionally, with Gu Yao's influence, it was certain that the power of his position had increased a lot more than normal. Lin Mu was unsure whether the one ruling was even the king or not now.

Jing Luo and Lin Mu took a room at the hotel as an excuse to stay near there before Lin Mu left Little Shrubby behind and sneaked out using Phase. Jing Luo on the other hand, went to the restaurant downstairs to gather intel in his own way.

There were plenty of people down there and just by simply sitting, he would be able to gather quite a bit.

"A little wine should smoothen out their tongues…" Jing Luo chuckled as he called the waiter.

Lin Mu quickly made his way to the Mansion where Wu Hei was living and stopped outside the barrier made by the formation array.

"Indeed… this is very strong." Lin Mu discovered.

The formation array protecting the mansion's borders was strong enough to actually hold back several attacks from a Dao Shell realm cultivator. Just this was enough to inform Lin Mu about the capability that Wu Hei might posses.

"They certainly didn't have anything of this level back then…" Lin Mu muttered.

He quickly used his spirit sense to analyze the formation array before finding a vulnerability in a node and opened up a crack for him to enter through. With the crack closing behind him, none was the wiser and Lin Mu was free to check everything with his spirit sense now.

~shua~

Lin Mu's spirit sense spread out from his body and densely covered the entire area. Hundreds of spirit sense tendrils scanned the area and told Lin Mu about each and every secret that hid there.

"There you are… Wu Hei." 

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