After hearing all about the expedition from Crown Prince Feng Shun, Lin Mu recalled someone else telling him something similar.
"Hang on a second." Lin Mu paused. "By any chance… is there someone called Qiao De involved in this?" he questioned.
He didn't know if it was really the same person, as it would be a minute chance. But it also didn't seem like there would be more than a single expedition like this for a Celestial's plane.
"H-how… do you know that?" Crown Prince Feng Shun was truly shocked this time.
As far as they knew, this expedition was kept secret and only a handful of chosen people knew about it. Qiao De was the one who wanted it to be discreet and as such, he hadn't revealed his name to anyone other than the ones that were already part of the expedition.
While they had already decided to add Lin Mu to the team, the implications of him knowing about Qiao De already were concerning to them for sure, but they still couldn't figure out how he actually knew this.
"Qiao De is the manager of the Black Candle Pavilion, isn't he?" Lin Mu responded. "I've met him before… and he just so happens to have talked about the same thing. Though slightly differently. He mentioned that this Spatial Plane was actually a treasure of a Celestial rather than an independent plane." He explained.
"That punk… he actually kept that from us too." Crown Princess Shang scowled.
Even the Crown Prince seemed to be showing concern on his face openly, while his brows furrowed.
Lin Mu didn't speak and let them digest this information first.
'Did I put doubt in their plans?' Lin Mu wondered if it was like that.
"Crown Prince, perhaps we should re-discuss this matter with Qiao De first." Commander Dui suggested. "While his words have been different, the baseline of the mission seems to be the same. Then there is also the matter of how he met Daoist Mu Lin." Being a man of the military, the man was used to making informed decisions and as such suggested a more stable approach.
"We shall do that. Contact Qiao De and ask for a proper explanation." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "As for you Daoist Mu Lin, since Qiao De's already invited you, I guess you were fated to be chosen."
"Seems like it." Lin Mu nodded his head. "He seemed quite insistent on taking me along."
"With the knowledge that Brother Mu Lin has, I think it makes sense too. In an uncharted territory of a celestial, one needs to be smart and well informed to survive. It is also one of the reasons why I decided to pick you." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.
"That's understandable." Lin Mu nodded his head.
"Does that mean you are willing to come along?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked for confirmation.
"I will. Plus we have time, right? I will wind up a few matters before that." Lin Mu agreed.
"Great!" Crown Princess Shang cheered hearing that, and the other companions of hers were also pleased.
At the very least, they were now considering Lin Mu to be on the same level as them.
They discussed about the matter a bit more and decided that the Crown Prince would inform him later when it was time. At the very least, they had several months left before it would happen.
This made Lin Mu have some doubts and he couldn't help but ask.
"Since we only have 10 people going on the expedition, officially what are you recruiting the others for?" Lin Mu questioned.
"Frankly speaking, they are a diversion." Crown Prince Feng Shun admitted.
"A diversion?" Lin Mu raised his brows at the trickery.
"Indeed." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded his head. "As for why we need to do this, you can guess simply by remembering whom the Spatial Plane belongs to." He added.
"Of course… if people found out it was a celestial's treasure, there would be everyone joining from the empires." Lin Mu stated.
"Exactly. But if it is just us 10 going there, we would inevitably noticed too. There would be no lack of people spying on us and even I'm not confident enough to avoid all of them.
Thus, rather than hiding, we are going on an expedition mission. It is better to make it open but mask it as another expedition." He explained.
"But how would that work when we are going to the same location?" Lin Mu was a bit confused.
"The Spatial plane belonging to the Celestial isn't the only one there." Feng Shun said with a smirk.
"It's not?" Lin Mu asked in doubt.
"Rather than one, there's actually a bunch of Spatial planes there. They're all scattered and have different things in them. As such, they can be explored by the others and will definitely contain some resources or other fortunate encounters." Crown Prince Feng Shun explained.
'Hmm… A bunch of Spatial Planes cl.u.s.tered together.' Lin Mu though, found it a bit strange.
He also felt like there was something he was missing or knew, but couldn't exactly link it.
"Looks like I'll just have to see it for myself later." Lin Mu said, knowing that speculating wasn't gonna be helpful.
"Indeed. Even I do not know the exact location of it, only Qiao De does. As such, we just need to rely on him." Crown Prince Feng Shun said. "Though I'll certainly be questioning him a bit before that."
~HUM~
While they were talking though, the tournament token suddenly hummed for Lin Mu.
He took it out and held it, receiving the new announcement that had been sent out.
~HUM~
The Crown Prince and the others also got the message and learned about its contents.
"Looks like you awakened at just the right time." Crown Princess Shang smiled. "You have 1 day before the final fight."
"Mmhmm, the Temple probably finished taking care of their matters." Lin Mu replied before recalling something. "Oh, and what about the citywide lockdown?" he asked.