Chapter 638: Confusion And Clarification

Jingming Shang watched on as the man in front of him lifted his mask and revealed his face. He had not been able to recognize the voice and hoped that the face would be somewhat of a clue.

"Huh? Who are you?" Jingming Shang questioned, still unable to recognize him.

Lin Mu raised his brows upon seeing Jingming Shang's reaction.

"Hmm… guess this is actually good. At least Gu Yao and the rest would not be able to recognize me easily if Jingming Shang can't do it." Lin Mu muttered to himself.

"Who are you and why did you kidnap me?" Jingming Shang asked, seeing that the kidnapper was mumbling to himself.

'Who is this guy? If I knew someone with a face as handsome and a demeanor like him, I would have definitely remembered him. Wait it minute… could it perhaps be the elder of someone I offended?' Jingming Shang wondered, getting even more nervous than before.

Seeing that Jingming Shang was clearly in the dark about who he was, Lin Mu decided to say it himself. "It's me, Lin Mu." 

"Lin Mu?" Jingming Shang repeated the name and tried to match it in his memories.

The only names that came up that he knew about were a few small merchants, commoners and a boy wanted by every cultivation sect in the world. He was sure that the man in front of him was none of those.

"Old Man Jing Wei and Duan Ke… do you remember now?" Lin Mu stated.

As soon as Jingming Shang heard those two names, his eyes went wide.

"How do you… wait, you're that boy! That boy in that shop back then." Jingming Shang finally recognized.

It was hard for him to match the features of that boy to the man in front of him, but once he considered the years that had passed since then, he understood. But then fear filled him after that.

"No… not just that boy… you're THE Lin Mu, aren't you? The most wanted person in the world." Jingming Shang said.

"What? I'm the most wanted person? I don't think I really saw any posters about me recently." Lin Mu said, feeling confused. "Though yes, I am the same person you saw in the shop with Jing Wei and Duan Ke back then." 

Jingming Shang calmed down a bit after hearing that. Originally, he had been confused about the identity of Lin Mu but now that it had been established he truly was the one linked to Jing Wei and Duan Ke, he felt relieved.

~phew~

"So they really didn't exaggerate back then, you really are quite strong." Jingming Shang said.

"What do you mean?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling a bit disconnected.

Jingming Shang sighed to himself before explaining all that had happened since Lin Mu fought Gu Yao. 

Apparently, Jingming Shang had learned about Lin Mu from the many warnings the sects had spread around. They had called him a threat to the people and that he had invited an invader into the world with the help of the northern tribes.

At first, Jingming Shang didn't believe the boy that he had seen in the shop was the same as those in the wanted posters that were spread everywhere. But after hearing the many accounts of it, he started to believe it to.

The hardest thing for him to believe was that such a person could be linked to Jing Wei and Duan Ke. While Jingming Shang didn't exactly know the true identities of the two people, he knew that they were very powerful.

He knew they were hiding from the sects and now wondered if Lin Mu was involved in this plan with them. Then later on Jingming Shang had found them to have disappeared completely from the face of the earth.

This only affirmed his belief that they must have been involved in it. Jingming Shang knew that he could not let others know that he knew them and thus distanced himself from all the other people that knew about it or had an idea.

Even if the others didn't know about Jing Wei and Duan Ke, Jingming Shang wasn't sure if it would come out in the future. Thus to be on the safe side, he moved away from the Shuang Qian Kingdom and came to the south, eventually settling in the Fenlong Kingdom.

Jingming Shang reckoned that even if something happened, it would not reach a small kingdom like the Fenlong Kingdom. But it was proven to be wrong just today.

~Sigh~

"That Gu Yao… he really dared to vilify me that much, huh…" Lin Mu muttered.

"Who's this Gu Yao you're talking about and where are Jing Wei and Duan Ke?" Jingming Shang questioned.

"Gu Yao is the actual culprit behind all of this. All the things that they said I did, it is Gu Yao who did it in reality. He is the brother of former mayor Wu Xun and an ally of the northern tribes. As for Jing Wei and Duan Ke, they are safe. They are just in seclusion… I think." Lin Mu answered.

Jingming Shang obviously didn't believe Lin Mu fully, but after hearing his side of the story and linking it up with the information that he himself had dug out, the inconsistencies started to come up.

An hour later Jingming Shang was finally convinced.

"I… I can't believe all this has been happening. This Gu Yao… he's far dangerous than any other person I've ever heard about." Jingming Shang said.

"Exactly. He has been planning all this for a long time and is behind the suffering of a lot of people. In fact… back at the Merchant council, I think the secret backer is none other than Gu Yao or someone working beneath him." Jingming Shang replied.

"Wait! How do you know about the meeting?" Jingming Shang asked in shock.

"Well… I was spying on it. Originally I came to find you, but ended up listening to what was basically a plan to exterminate the Mu clan." Lin Mu replied.