Chapter 1884 Forced Peace And Rewards
The Capital city underwent a full sweep in a single night and changed to a new face the next day.
The hustle and bustle had reduced now that the Tournament of the Four Guardians was over. All the cultivators that had come to watch it had started to return, with the Cross World Teleportation Array running nonstop.
Normally, people would stay a bit longer, with some even taking the chance to tour the world they had come to. But with the controversial and dangerous events that had happened during this tournament, they felt like it was no longer safe to be there.
Those who were a bit smarter and more experienced could sense the sinister undercurrents hidden behind the facade of security.
They knew better than to delay their stay and wished to leave as soon as possible. Not to mention, there were many who simply wished to return to their worlds and report all that had happened here. After all, not all worlds can afford real time transfer of information and news.
Someone interfering in the Tournament of the Four guardians and breaking its rules would be pretty big news that would surprise many worlds.
Not to mention, this hadn"t just happened once, not twice, but thrice!
Dugu Shanhe with his unorthodox forbidden skills, Yao Changying with her attack of the temple members and rule break as well as the Third Prince Feng Baxing using a life saving talisman against the winner.
Then there was the sudden appearance of the Colossal Cloud Serpent that had crippled the Third Prince.
The latter was something that millions of people had watched and couldn"t be hidden.
Thankfully, the three emperors and the Temple of the Four Guardians moved together to change the narrative.
Feng Baxing was publicly denounced by Emperor Feng and deemed a criminal by the Temple. As such, they gave the excuse that the Colossal Cloud Serpent was actually the punishment from the temple itself!
No one would question the ability of the temple to do something like this, as such it became an easy lie. Not to mention, it also gave the Temple a chance to save some face. It strengthened their authority again and showed their might.
With the three emperors of the Rust Sky world and the Temple confirming it themselves, there were no protests from anyone.
Of course, the excuse was only possible due to the fact that the Saintess herself had told them to hide her involvement. As such, they didn"t mind taking the credit.
After they were "restrained" by the being from the void, the Emperor and the other top powers of the Rust Sky world had been scared deeply. In fact, other than the Emperors the rest of the top experts literally chose to hide in seclusion and vowed not to go out for at least a hundred years.
Those who were injured during that incident decided to stay even longer.
All those that thought that there was a rise in the chance of war between Dao Wind Empire and the Holy Topaz Dynasty due to the actions of Yao Changying were proven wrong.
Due to the "warning" that had been given to them, the scales of war were forcibly stifled.
With a greater threat looming over them, the Emperors came to a mutual understanding that it was much better for them to go silent for a while.
All those who tried to stir the pot or muddy the calm waters would get shut down by the ruling powers. And it wasn"t just the Three Empires either, the other top experts who had witnessed the true horror of being suppressed would do the same.
They knew there were power greater than them watching the Rust Sky world now.
Powers that even the Temple would not go against.
Lin Mu and Crown Prince Feng Shun had no idea that unknowingly a time of forced peace had been established in the Rust Sky world.
The visitors kept leaving in droves, with about 40% having left by the time the celebratory banquet for Lin Mu ended.
The banquet ran the entire night and until dawn the next day.
Only when the sun was at the peak did they stop.
"This will be a banquet to remember." Luo Liqin spoke, his face red from all the wine they had drunk.
All of Lin Mu"s companions were in a similar state, having drunk a lot of wine through the night. Only Lin Mu, the Crown Prince, Monk Hushu and the Crown Princess seemed to be totally fine through it all.
Monk Hushu hadn"t drank any wine and had stuck to tea, while the other three were simply unaffected by the wine.
Even the stern Commander Dui was drunk and had left earlier to rest.
The same happened with the Ming Sisters and they had retired to sleep too.
Lin Mu peeked out of the balcony and gazed at the bright sky when the Crown Prince approached him.
"You"re gonna leave, aren"t you?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.
"I am yes… I"ve obtained a lot of things that I need to digest. Plus, I also need to cultivate further." Lin Mu replied.
"Hmm.. That much is expected." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "Well, since you are leaving, I should give you my reward too, I suppose." He added before taking out a token.
Lin Mu glanced at the token that had the motif of the four guardian beasts on one side and the symbol for the Immortal Court on the other side.
"As agreed upon, you can use this token to use the Cross World Teleportation arrays in all worlds that are under the Immortal courts. You will neither have to pay, nor establish your ident.i.ty in order to use it." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "You can use this six times." He added.
"Don"t you want to ask for a reward from me too?" Crown Princess Shang who had overheard them approached.
"I"ve thought about it, but I don"t know what I should ask from you. I don"t have a particular need for anything now." Lin Mu replied.
"I see… But I can"t just let you leave empty-handed, can I? That would be against my word as the Crown Princess." She said, placing a hand on her chin and thinking. "How about this…" she suddenly took out a box.
"Take it," she spoke.
"What is this?" Lin Mu took the box and opened it.
Inside, there were three objects.
The first was a small coin that looked like it was made from bronze. The second was a small scroll that was about the size of a finger, and the third was a brown seed the size of an olive.
"The coin is an entry token to the Shang Dao Empire. If you ever go to the Three Aster world and wish for a place to stay, you can use that.
The scroll on the other hand, is a personal writ of promise from me. If you ever need help, you can show that to any major power and they will help you." Crown Princess Shang explained.
"This…" Lin Mu didn"t expect her to give something like this.
He could tell the value of the scroll was rather high.
"As for the seed… I don"t exactly know what it is." The Crown Princess stated.
"Huh, you don"t know?" Lin Mu was surprised. "Aren"t you specialized in the wood Dao and your empire is specialized in alchemy and herbs?" he asked in doubt.
"We are, which is also why it is confusing for me." Crown Princess replied. "I"ve been unable to determine what kind of seed that is, and neither have I been able to germinate it." She added.
"Where did you get it?" Lin Mu questioned.
"I got it a few years ago during one of our missions." Crown Princess Shang answered.
"Is it the one we got from that trial plane?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked, recalling it. "I thought you had given it to your elders to take a look."
"I did, but they were unsuccessful, too. They returned this to me before we arrived here." Crown Princess Shang said, turning to the Crown Prince.
"Hmm… Perhaps Daoist Mu Lin will be able to figure out what kind of seed it is." The Crown Prince said with a shrug.
"Indeed. Since I can"t really do anything with the seed, it is basically useless to keep it with me. May as well give it to someone." Crown Princess Shang said in a casual tone.
"Guess she"s just throwing it as an extra since she has no use for it. The first two items are the main reward from her." Lin Mu reckoned.
"So then, is this fine with you?" Crown Princess Shang asked.
"Yes… I"m satisfied with it." Lin Mu replied and stored the box away in his ring.
"Will you be leaving right away?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.
"Not exactly… I still have some things to wind up in the city." Lin Mu replied.
"Well, if you have anything you need done you can ask me." The man offered.