A small group of people sat in a hall in the Mu clan.

This was the small alliance that Lin Mu had created and they were the very first members of it. In the center sat Lin Mu, and opposite to him was Jing Luo. On the right of Lin Mu sat Jingming Shang and Mu Tao, while on his left there were Miss Fen and Mu Niu.

"I still can't believe how senior managed to get Shantung to join us as well." Mu Tao said.

"It was actually a surprise to me as well. Never thought that the day I would go to kill them, he would have a change of heart… or rather his son would." Lin Mu replied.

Miss Fen had her hand on her chin as she thought about it for a bit.

"But is it really fine to trust him? He can change at any time." Miss Fen said in a concerned tone.

"I know. That's why we will be keeping him on a short leash. His son is far smarter than him and knows how to adapt. He seems to be the better person to interact with. And seeing from how Shantung has voluntarily taken to a more passive position in this situation, it makes sense that he's letting his son handle it." Lin Mu replied.

"Wait… how old is Shantung?" Jingming Shang questioned as a thought suddenly popped up in his mind.

Miss Fen and Mu Tao seemed to be unable to answer this, and so did Lin Mu and Jing Luo. After all, there was no specific reason for them to find out the age of the man back then and thus they didn't know.

"Shantung has been alive since the time of Uncle Di… so that would put him at… just over two hundred and fifty years, I think." Mu Niu calculated.

Hearing that the man was over two hundred and fifty years old, Jing Luo and Jingming Shang understood the situation.

"No wonder… he's running out of his lifespan and wants to pass on his position now." Jingming Shang spoke.

"That might actually be the reason why he gave in to the threat of Gu Yao so fast as well. He was simply fearful of his clan's existence after he was gone. I know Shantung would not back down from a fight, but if he was gone, his clan would not have anyone to rely on.

But now that his son is showing potential, he might be intending to pass on the position quicker. Besides, he also showed a willingness to fight against Gu Yao now too, right? That might be his last attempt at glory before he runs out of lifespan." Miss Fen analyzed.

Hearing all this, Lin Mu thought for a bit and wondered what could be the best outcome for them and the alliance.

"Shantung has been at the Peak stage of the Core condensation realm for a long time now, and the only reason he has been unable to break through to the Nascent Soul realm is because of the lack of talent." Lin Mu assessed.

"Not only that, but he also suffered some injuries when he was younger and ended up falling into the life of debauchery for nearly a century. It was not until his father died that Shantung matured and took the mantle of the patriarch. That is also the reason why he had a son so late in his life. Even if he has multiple children right now, only his eldest son is competent and old enough to run things." Mu Niu added.

"I see… so what if we help him break through to the Nascent Soul realm?" Lin Mu proposed.

"Won't that backfire on us?" Mu Tao asked, feeling a bit concerned.

"It could, but we will take precautions. A bloodline oath should be enough to force him if it is taken along with his son. He definitely won't dare to try anything after that." Lin Mu replied. "Plus, we don't have many people at the peak stage of the core condensation realm as of now and if Shantung is able to breakthrough, we will have another Nascent Soul realm cultivator in our alliance." He added.

The members of the alliance thought over the proposition for a bit before nodding their heads.

"We can do it then." Jing Luo agreed as well.

Since he had spoken, the others agreed to the proposition, too.

"But… do we have the necessary resources to make him breakthrough?" Mu Tao asked.

"Yes, we have plenty." Lin Mu replied, remembering the sheer amount of pills that were lying in his ring. 

He had raided the Vaults of the Tri Cauldron Peony sect and had gained a lot of pills from them. Even if a majority of them were of mid and low quality, it didn't mean they had no valuable pills. 

As for a pill that helped cultivators breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm, Lin Mu had a whole bottle of them. These pills were hard to make and were considered to be the last resort method when all other routes had been exhausted.

Not only would these pills forcefully push a cultivator into the nascent soul realm, but it would also use up all of their latent cultivation talent in doing so. This meant that they would have no chance of ever breaking through to the Dao Shell realm.

But for people who were on the edge of death, this was the perfect pill and was a sacrifice they were obviously willing to make.

These kinds of pills were not something Lin Mu was going to give away easily, though. Not only because of their value but also because of their effects. It was also the reason why Lin Mu had not given any to the Fen clan despite there being several Peak stage core condensation realm elders among them.

Even Miss Fen had rejected any more help from Lin Mu and had said that once their bloodline's problem was resolved, they would have no need for resources for a long time. Just their own talent should be enough to progress quite quickly.

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