Lin Mu read the scroll and furrowed his brows.

"They caught over ten members of the Hei corps of the sixteen that they had detected were in the kingdom. The remaining six are still missing and have been put at a high level of importance.

The ones that were caught were then sent to the empire itself, as was requested of them according to the orders." Lin Mu muttered after reading the entire scroll.

He knew that it wasn't fully the Hong Lin kingdom's fault either in catching and sending the members of the Hei corps off. From all that he knew, the kingdoms needed to follow the orders of the empire, especially for highly wanted criminals like this.

Plus, it was not like they would listen if the members of the Hei corps protested. They were simply doing what they were asked to and anyone else would do the same if they didn't know that the sects and empires were being manipulated, no less.

~Sigh~

"This doesn't help us much. There is no more information about the six members that managed to escape either." Lin Mu said while shaking his head.

Comparing the dates, Lin Mu was sure that it would be close to impossible if he wanted to find the members of the Hei corps here. The outpost that was located in the Hong Lin kingdom could be said to be as good as gone now.

'Perhaps they have left the kingdom a long time ago as well…' Lin Mu thought.

With these thoughts in his mind, Lin Mu didn't know if completing their mission here was even possible anymore.

"Things won't always go according to your plans. This is one of the very important things you need to learn. Fate is a fickle mistress and often likes to play without much rhyme or reason." Xukong said in a sagely tone.

"I understand senior." Lin Mu replied.

"Though… it's not like this is a complete failure for you, either. There are other things you can accomplish here from what I've been seeing till now." Xukong stated.

Lin Mu thought over it and indeed found it to be true. There were a lot of things he could do in the Hong Lin kingdom, plus it didn't seem like Gu Yao had a very strong control here… at least not for now.

"Mmm, I'll see what else I can do here. At the very least, we'll get the Hong Lin wood before we leave for the Long Cloud sect." Lin Mu stated.

With that done, Lin Mu felt a bit free now and felt like he could do some other things and didn't need to rush everything. 

'I'll take a look at the other things here… might as well take the advantage of being here already.' Lin Mu thought before looking around.

Lin Mu read through many records and documents that were stored in the repository and even learned of the history of the Hong Lin kingdom.

It was said that the Hong Lin kingdom was founded over three thousand years ago by the first king of named Hong. He was an orphan as well, who was abandoned in the Hong Lin forest.

He grew up in the harshness of the forest and survived it all, taking up the forest as his parents and thus naming himself 'Hong'. He alone managed to cultivate all the way to the peak of the Qi refining realm upon coming across a secret cultivator abode in the forest.

Using the cultivation technique he found in it, his cultivation continued to soar, and so did his status. 

Back then, while the unification of the entire continent was already done, the area where the Hong Lin forest was located was still free. And since the nearby powers were still struggling in their own troubles after the war, they didn't have the chance to expand or take over more things than they could deal with back then.

This allowed there to be several small clans that settled in the Hong Lin forest. These were the natives of the forest and lived in large circular houses, much like the royal place itself.

Over time, the architecture style had changed and been influenced by the rest of the empire, but the Royal palace still kept up the tradition.

The first King, 'Hong' reached the Nascent soul realm and was said to be so talented that he was invited by many sects back then, even including several top sects. But he rejected all of them and instead chose to settle in the forest that had raised him and called it his home.

He established the Hong Lin Kingdom and united the smaller clans, making them his citizens and subjects. He dispelled opposition with an iron fist and decimated his opponents with ease.

But the one thing he loved dearly was the forest itself and the Hong Lin trees. He wrote countless poems and couplets about them, and praised them to no end. Many people said he was obsessed with the trees and that he would even marry them if one turned into a human.

His obsession even carried on after he became king. Becoming a king came with the duty of producing offspring and heirs, and thus he married several women. But the queen that he married never managed to truly win his heart, and he was often found cultivating in the forest instead.

Despite him having many heirs, his queen and concubines were always displeased with him. Over the years, this led to many conflicts among the heirs of the first king. Since he didn't pay much attention to his wives and the royal court, it ended up with them competing against each other.

With no attention from their husband, the wives fought and quarreled amongst themselves, redirecting their goals to gain more power in the kingdom for themselves, their children, and their families.

While the commoners lived in relative peace, the royal palace was almost always in some kind of internal trouble.

All of this only stopped when the King suddenly disappeared one day. Upon his departure, he only left a single letter from which mentioned that he was reaching the end of his lifespan and would not deal with the matters of the kingdom anymore.

As for who would be the next king?

He left that up to a quest that he assigned to his heirs.

  Before leaving, the king had sealed the royal treasury and even the repository, basically leaving the entire royal place helpless. He stated that the next king will be the one who finds the oldest Hong Lin tree in the forest and takes the Royal Seal from it.

The king had hidden his Royal seal, which was his token of authority on the oldest tree of the Hong Lin forest. This tree was something that only the king knew, as he was the only one who had spent so much time in the forest.

It is said that due to the pressure from the potential fall of the royal family, the heirs actually worked together and eventually found the royal seal. One of the heirs was elected as the king, while the rest of them took different positions in the royal court.

Though half of them also chose to leave the kingdom and pursue the life of a cultivator, either in the sects or just as itinerant cultivators.

Over the years, the throne changed hands several times, and the king wasn't always someone who reached the Nascent Soul realm.

"That was one eccentric king… why did he even choose to become one when he didn't want to run his kingdom well?" Lin Mu couldn't help but wonder.

"People have many obsessions in their life and some of these make them want to protect it. The first king loved the forest like his own parents and thus took the only method he thought would be possible to protect it, becoming king." Xukong explained.

Lin Mu thought over it and found it to be reasonable. He then continued to read through more documents and spent several hours in the repository. He also kept checking the status of the king, his uncle Kou and the two disciples from the sect he didn't know about yet, but they were all still in their places and cultivated in silence.

Just as he was about to debate on whether to leave or not, he came across something that caught his attention.

It was a cultivation technique and was kept among the other cultivation techniques in the repository. They weren't particularly good and thus didn't catch Lin Mu's eyes, as he could cultivate far easily without them.

But this cultivation technique caught his attention, became of its description and method that it showed.

"This is a rather strange technique…" Lin Mu said upon reading its content.

'Embrace the heart of the Hong Lin, let its essence flow through you, and ignite the flame in your heart.' Lin Mu read the mnemonic of the technique.

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