Chapter 202: The Pitiful Hei Corps?

~Ahem~

Duan Ke coughed to get Jing Wei's attention.

"I asked you something grandfather, please clarify." Duan Ke spoke in a cold tone.

Jing Wei noticed the change in her tone and knew that he should drop the act now, lest he angers his precious granddaughter even more.

"I gave Lin Mu the thousand armament blade scripture." Jing Wei said in a straight tone.

Duan Ke's expression, which was cold before went still for a moment before shock appeared on her face.

"WHAT! You gave an outsider that? When?!" Duan Ke spoke in shock.

A few seconds later she herself realized when that must have happened.

"You mean… back then… when… when…" She stuttered.

"Yes, I did. I admit it was a decision made in haste, but now that I've seen the result I don't regret it." Jing Wei interrupted Duan Ke, not wanting her to embarrass herself in front of Lin Mu.

The person in question, Lin Mu himself was having a great time listening to the banter of the pair of grandfather and granddaughter. He had an amused expression on his face and kept on listening without uttering a word.

~Sigh~

Duan Ke sighed and thought to herself there was no use crying over spilled milk.

'No wonder, he kept on switching weapons and improved against my own weapon skills. The sword technique I use is a lesser derivation of the Thousand armament blade scripture. It's obvious that the technique is much more superior.' Duan Ke consoled herself.

"You should have told me beforehand grandfather, I would have used a different tactic then." Duan Ke uttered in defeat.

"I didn't know he would be able to do that either. I never expected anyone to learn it that quick, especially since the requirements of that technique are quite harsh." Jing Wei said and continued, "How did you do this? I mean, the number of weapons required for this is astounding and some of them are even unorthodox."

Both Duan Ke and Jing Wei's eyes were now focused on Lin Mu, and they were waiting for his reply.

Lin Mu realized what Jing Wei was talking about and replied, "Yes, the requirements did indeed make it difficult for me at first. But then I got an opportunity and had the Hei corps procure them for me." 

Lin Mu did not mind that he spoke about the Hei corpse as it was already known to him that the Hei corps and Jing Wei had previously met before. Though if he knew the context of that meeting, then perhaps he would have thought of avoiding mentioning them.

"The Hei corps?" Both Duan Ke and Jing Wei repeated with momentary confusion.

"You mean those bunch of weaklings in Dark blue robes and masks?" Duan Ke spoke in a depreciating tone.

"Ah, I remember. Weren't those the people who were snooping around the shop back then? I nearly forgot about them." Jing Wei said as he stoked his beard in realization.

Lin Mu looked at the two of them with a strange gaze.

'What kind of interaction did they Hei Corps have with them? And wasn't what I did a little while ago the same, technically.' Lin Mu inwardly spoke.

"I am confused too." Xukong chimed in.

"What happened between you and them?" Lin Mu asked curiously.

Duan Ke took this opportunity to show her supremacy and bashed the Hei Corps for their weakness, as she narrated the entire story.

After listing to the entire thing, Lin Mu didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

~Chuckle~

Xukong could not hold back anymore either and chuckled in response.

'The Hei corps they are truly… pitiable.' Lin Mu muttered in his mind.

"Indeed, they seem to have a penchant for misfortune. No wonder their image of you went up instantly when you spoke of these two. They had already been scared plenty." Xukong spoke in an amazed tone.

"Senior… you too… ~Sigh~" Lin Mu replied while feeling a strange sense of second-hand embarrassment.

Lin Mu didn't know what to make of this and just decided to push this to the back of his mind for the time being.

"And how did you encounter the Hei corps?" Jing Wei questioned, feeling curious.

"It's a long story." Lin Mu spoke with a tired expression.

Jing Wei then remembered that Lin Mu had just gone through a battle and was likely to be tired due to qi depletion. This was indeed true, but Lin Mu's condition was not as bad as Jing Wei had thought. Lin Mu still had about two hundred wisps of spirit qi left in his dantian, along with about ten drops of liquefied spirit qi.

"Well then, we can head back to the meeting hall to rest. You can recuperate your qi in the meantime, I'll add your signature to the formation array." Jing Wei spoke.

He waved his hand and multiple formations appeared all over the hall and also surrounded Lin Mu. They glowed over his body for a moment before a pattern was emitted from the formation. This pattern went towards Lin Mu's chest as if to enter it.

But just as the patter proceeded slightly, it halted midair and then faded away. Even the formations that were surrounding Lin Mu faded away.

Jing Wei and Duan Ke stared at this with confused expressions. Duan Ke soon realized what must have happened and quickly whispered in his ear.

"Ah, I see. He can already absorb spirit qi without the approval of the formation, no wonder the formation cannot register him." Jing Wei muttered in realization.

But hidden in his words were a multitude of complex emotions that he did not show. While Lin Mu did not notice this, Duan Ke certainly did and knew that her grandfather had likely caught onto something.

"No matter," Jing Wei spoke up, breaking the silence. "You can absorb the spirit qi in the courtyard as you please for now." 

Lin Mu nodded his head in gratitude and quickly urged his body to start absorbing the spirit qi in the surroundings. Soon a faint whirlwind was formed and swirled around Lin Mu.