Lin Mu's ears perked up upon hearing the servant's words and he got closer to them.

"Isn't that why the council has met up today?" The servant asked.

"Oh yeah, I don't think I saw the Mu clan's leader either." The second servant replied.

"No way. Do you think they might be doing this secretly?" The first servant said with an apprehensive tone.

"Hey, you two! Get to work and stop gossiping!" A clerk who had just appeared from the corridor said out loud.

"Y-yes, sir!" The servants said before rushing away.

"Humph, dare to slack off on my watch…" The clerk said before returning to his work as well.

Lin Mu furrowed his brows upon hearing the words of the servants.

"Something is definitely fishy…" Lin Mu muttered as his head turned to the innermost hall.

He approached the barrier and placed his hand on it. About five seconds later, an opening appeared on its surface, allowing Lin Mu to enter freely. To Lin Mu, a formation of this level was easy to crack, taking him mere seconds to unravel.

Upon entering the inner hall, Lin Mu first sensed the spirit Qi fluctuations in the room. Since he had known that there were several core condensation realm cultivators in the council, they could still sense his spirit sense if he directly used it.

"Hmm… five at the early stage of the core condensation realm, two at the mid stage, and the remaining two at the peak stage of the Qi refining realm." Lin Mus quickly analyzed the cultivation bases. 

He then turned his spirit sense into a fine tendril and probed the walls of the hall, before finding a location that was suitable to spy from. 

"That shelf should be fine…" Lin Mu muttered before blinking to the wall behind the shelf. 

He then slightly extended his head from the top of the shelf such that only his eyes were peeking out of it. The shelf itself was over five meters tall and there were several decorative show pieces kept on it. And no one was likely to directly gaze at the very top of the shelf between two statues that cast a shadow on the wall behind.

Lin Mu's eyes were hidden in these shadows and thus were not visible easily for others. But it allowed him to take a view of the room quite clearly.

"Hmm… so these are the so called council members…" Lin Mu internally said.

He saw five old men, three middle aged men, and one woman in the hall. They were sitting around a long circular table where one chair was currently empty. In all of them, Lin Mu quickly identified the one person he knew, Jingming Shang.

He looked the same as he did before when the last time Lin Mu had seen him, with the only difference being that his cultivation base had reached the Mid stage of the Core condensation realm and he was wearing more luxurious clothes.

A few seconds later, one of the old men started to speak.

"So we all agree that the Mu clan is no longer qualified to be part of the merchant council?" the old man stated.

"I'm fine with it. Even if they had already paid their council fees for about ten years beforehand, I doubt they would be able to keep up their businesses for that long." A middle aged man said with a clean shaved face said.

"Are we sure about this?" The only woman in the council asked. "I mean, the Mu clan was one of the founders of this council. Should we really remove them?" 

"Has Miss Fen forgotten that we are merchants and all we care about are profits. The Mu clan is no longer profitable and beneficial to the image of the Merchant Council. Do you have doubts about that?" The Old Man questioned.

"Isn't this dishonorable, though? We would be going against our promise that was made to the patriarch of the Mu clan." The Woman replied.

"Oh? Does Miss Fen have some other interests in the Mu clan?" an old man that had small eyes asked.

"Who knows, perhaps Miss Fen is interested in the brat of Mu Clan, haha!" The second middle aged man who was dressed in a Grey aristocrat's robe joked.

"You! Think before you speak!" The woman named Fen got angry.

"Why? Did I step on a sensitive nerve?" The man teased.

"Gun Kai, you dare insult me to my face!?" The woman named Fen stood up from the chair and pointed at the man.

Spirit Qi fluctuations came off her body and it was obvious that she was at the early stage core condensation realm. 

~shua~

Equally powerful spirit Qi fluctuations came from the man named Gun Kai as well and clashed with Miss Fen's. The two were in a stalemate for about thirty seconds while they stared at each other, with neither coming out on top.

~Sigh~

Jingming Shang, who had been silently watching it all, suddenly sighed.

"People, people, people, we are civilized humans here. No need to act like those prudes on the streets." Jingming Shang placated the two.

"Besides, it isn't just Miss Fen that seems to have extra interests. If my sources are correct, isn't there an additional party exterior to the merchant council that is interested in the removal of the Mu clan from the council?" Jingming Shang said with one eye open.

"What do you mean by that Jingming Shang? Do you dare to accuse us openly?" The old man who had spoken at the start said, feeling irritated.

"No, no. All I mean is… we alls have benefits to pursue. Why don't we just discuss them openly so that a conflict like this doesn't appear? Who knows, perhaps you might even find an option which is far more profitable?" Jingming Shang suggested in a nonchalant tone.

The members of the council heard his words and deliberated over them for a bit before nodding their heads.

"We'll do as Jingming Shang suggested." The old man said with a straight expression.

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