"I don't think these materials ever reached the market, though? Such a sale would have definitely had some sects involved. Even we would have been interested in buying them." An elder in charge of the repository spoke.

Lin Mu nodded his head and spoke, "You are right, elder. Which is why I think these were not meant for open sale at all. But rather for some private deals…"

You Yi furrowed his brows and stroked his beard as he thought of something.

"If it is as you say, then… the places where these materials went must be to the Zither Wind alliance members?" He guessed.

"That's what I think as well." Lin Mu replied. 

"If that's so, then why was the Horse Manticore near the Hong Lin Kingdom?" High Elder Sunsen questioned.

"While I can't say that accurately, my best guess is that either it was needed somewhere else or someone specific needed it for something." Lin Mu answered.

"You mean to say, the beast was specifically sent to be taken over by the invader?" You Yi asked.

"No… I don't think that's what happened. If that was so, there would have not been that other corpse before. Instead of that, I think what happened was that the Horse Manticore was supposed to be brought to someplace else, but ended up meeting the monkey beast that had been taken over by the invader.

A battle must have ensued between the person who was transporting the Horse Manticore and the infected beast. Seeing the state of the corpse, there is a chance that the beast did sustain injuries, but we could not perceive them due to how horribly it had mutated. 

The injuries must have caused it to die and then the invader chose to take over the Horse Manticore." Lin Mu hypothesized.

Patriarch You Yi and the others thought over it and found it to be possible. While it took a little extra liberty in terms of events, these did seem to be the most likely events.

"Wait… if all this did happen, then doesn't it mean that Gu Yao ended up harming his own interest?" Jing Luo suddenly spoke. "If he had ordered the Horse Manticore to be moved somewhere and his allies also sent the Invader here, it would mean the ended up clashing." He added.

"That is indeed possible." Lin Mu nodded his head. "But there is another probability that the invader actually appeared there on its own. Since the main body of the invader is hidden somewhere in the void, it could have finally tracked down our world and sent more avatars." 

This was the second, more alarming possibility that Lin Mu and Senior Xukong had discussed. It was far more dangerous than the Northern tribes sending the invader since it would mean there was no controlling method for it and that the true body of the invader might arrive in the world some time.

If that rule happened, then Lin Mu was unsure if even all the powers of the world would be able to stop it with their combined strength. An entire continent was sunk into the ocean the last time a pseudo immortal beast arrived in the world fully. If an invader that was many times stronger than that appeared, Lin Mu was sure the Xiaofan world would not be able to exist.

'I'd rather have the Northern Tribes brining the invader than the invader coming here on its own terms…' Lin Mu thought to himself.

Hearing Lin Mu's words, Patriarch You Yi was very concerned and made some decision.

"The whereabouts of this beast and its traces are to be investigated in detail. I order the elders to look into it as soon as possible!" You Yi ordered.

"Yes patriarch!" the elders responded and three of them quickly left the hall to carry out their duties.

This also included Elder Peizhi, as it included his department.

"Can we use this to find where Gu Yao is?" Jing Luo questioned.

"Eventually, but not directly. Unless we find the person who was transporting the Horse Manticore." Lin Mu answered.

"Why do you say so?" Jing Luo questioned.

"I have a hunch that Gu Yao might have been calling the horse Manticore for his own use." Lin Mu stated.

"Hmm… he has used beasts before so there is definitely that chance." Jing Luo muttered.

It was at this time that another idea stuck Lin Mu.

"Hang on! I think I know how we can find the location of Gu Yao." Lin Mu said out loud.

"How?" Everyone said in unison.

"I don't think the Horse Manticore is the only beast Gu Yao would have asked for. There must be more… just a single beast won't even be enough if he is using as he used to consume beasts before. 

And if he had reached the Dao Shell realm as Wei Hei told me before, then there is a great chance that he needs a lot of Nascent soul realm beasts to proceed ahead. We should look into the movement of such beasts." Lin Mu spoke up.

Hearing this, Patriarch You Yi had an expression of enlightenment and he nodded his head.

"Additionally, I think we can find out who might have been transporting the Horse Manticore too. We just need to figure out who is missing from the Mountain Brush sect. Even if the beast is tamed, it would have to be a strong elder that can transport the Horse Manticore. 

And if he is missing, I don't doubt that they are investigating this matter too. After all, Gu Yao doesn't like it when his things go missing. He would have definitely ordered it a long time ago." Lin Mu stated.

"Very well. We can handle finding out information from the Mountain Brush sect. That much is not a problem for us. An elder of that status must be important in the Mountain brush sect and should be a high elder or even the supreme elder." Patriarch You Yi repelled.

Hearing this, Lin Mu nodded and was pleased.. He finally felt like things were heading towards a proper decision and they were one step closer to finding Gu Yao.

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