Chapter 366 – A New Source Rune

“Ahem, we’re investigating, we’ve been investigating all along.”

“Carrying out an assassination within the territory under our control is a provocation against us. The Demon Suppression Division has been taking action, but the perpetrator operates covertly, and we need some time.”

After Mu Lin exposed their initial intention to watch from the sidelines, the heads and Clan Elders of the aristocratic families felt somewhat awkward and spoke up one after another, explaining that they hadn’t been entirely inactive.

Of course, they were investigating, but as for whether they could uncover the mastermind behind it or how deep their investigation would go, the heads of these aristocratic families remained silent.

Hearing such perfunctory words, the Yan Family Patriarch understood their intentions.

He wasn’t angered by this, nor did he try to persuade them. Instead, he simply shrugged and said:

“It’s good that you’re investigating. I hope we’re still in time.”

“Huh? In time? What does that mean?”

“What else could it mean? Not only are we investigating the perpetrator, but the Northern Aristocracy has also been looking into this matter at Mu Lin’s request. If they find the perpetrator first and take revenge, Mu Lin joining the North and fighting for them will be a foregone conclusion.”

At this point, the Yan Family Patriarch seemed to recall something and added with a smile, “Oh, right. To avoid putting us in a difficult position, Mu Lin and I discussed it. If we can’t find the perpetrator or are unwilling to seek revenge for him, he will use the Lu Family’s assassination attempt as an excuse to leave and join the North.”

“This way, we won’t be too heavily implicated.”

“Bastard!”

The Yan Family Patriarch’s words darkened Lu Yangyao’s expression completely.

If Mu Lin were to leave because of an assassination attempt by the Lu Family, such news would indeed not implicate the other aristocratic families too much.

But if something like that really happened, the Lu Family’s reputation would be utterly ruined.

Leading the Southern Aristocracy’s Prodigy to defeat the arrogant and aggressive invasion from the North, Mu Lin was now regarded as a hero by the Southerners.

For such a hero—not defeated by the enemy but betrayed by his own people, leading him to defect to the enemy in anger—even without much political acumen, Lu Yangyao knew how severely the Lu Family’s reputation would suffer if this came to pass.

Names like “treacherous villains” and “heartless traitors” would forever be attached to them.

Moreover, with the South’s defeat, the Lu Family would face not only reputational damage but also material losses. At that time, hundreds of millions of Southerners, whether aristocrats or commoners, would harbor immense Resentment toward them.

Such hatred was something the Lu Family could not bear.

“We absolutely cannot let this happen.”

With this thought, he stepped forward, intending to disrupt the Yan Family’s and Mu Lin’s plans.

“We can’t agree to this. Mu Lin is threatening us…”

“Shut up!”

Before Lu Yangyao could finish speaking, the Lu Family Patriarch barged in and forcefully silenced him.

Then, the Clan Head cast a cold, sharp glance at the Yan Family Patriarch and said icily, “There are indeed some conflicts between our Lu Family and Mu Lin, but that’s no reason for you to stir up trouble. I don’t believe Mu Lin would say or do such things.”

After saying this, the Lu Family Patriarch pulled Lu Yangyao along and walked out of the meeting room.

Once outside, seeing that they were heading in the direction of Mu Lin’s Courtyard, Lu Yangyao spoke to the Lu Family Patriarch, “Are we going to expose the Yan Family’s instigation and make Mu Lin understand the truth of the matter?”

“Fools, only commoners care about evidence. For us aristocratic families, truth and provocation are irrelevant; we look at interests. Given the competitive relationship between the Yan Family and us, when Mu Lin leaves, the Yan Family would gladly spend significant resources to have Mu Lin utter some slanderous words just to spite us. And as long as their relationship is good and Mu Lin dislikes us, there’s an eighty to ninety percent chance he would say such things.”

“And if things go awry, to avoid being implicated or to minimize losses, other aristocratic families would also secretly push this matter. By then, our Lu Family’s reputation would be utterly ruined.”

The perilous situation left Lu Yangyao somewhat stunned, but the Lu Family head was not overly anxious.

“Fortunately, none of this has happened yet, and there’s still time to salvage it. I’ll take you to apologize to Mu Lin now and give him some rare treasures. As long as the gifts are generous enough, even if what Old Yan said is true, it can be turned into provocation and slander.”

Using apologies and gifts to draw closer to Mu Lin, ensuring he remains neutral in the conflict between the Yan and Lu Families.

It must be said, the Lu Family head’s plan was indeed clever.

And if the gifts were plentiful and valuable enough, this plan could very well succeed.

After all, Mu Lin was not a member of the Yan Family; he was merely close to Yan Yunyu.

In minor matters, he wouldn’t mind helping the Yan Family, but he wouldn’t go so far as to make deadly enemies for their sake—the Yan Family’s support for Mu Lin wasn’t all-out either. They increased their investment gradually as Mu Lin displayed his talent.

Even now, their investment in him remained lower than that in their own heir.

Since they weren’t as close as family, Mu Lin naturally wouldn’t foolishly sacrifice himself for others.

After pondering for a moment, Lu Yangyao understood all this. Still, bowing to a junior left him somewhat unwilling.

“Do we really have to bow our heads? And Mu Lin is threatening us—are all our clans just going to sit back and let him threaten us?”

These words exhausted the Lu Family head.

Frustrated by his son’s lack of understanding, he angrily retorted:

“What else can you do if you don’t sit back? Break ties with Mu Lin, let him join the Northern Aristocracy, and watch our favorable situation reverse? Or imitate the robed figures from last night and assassinate Mu Lin?”

“Never mind whether Mu Lin, who has already survived one assassination attempt and is now heavily guarded by the Northern Aristocracy, can be successfully assassinated—what if you succeed? If Mu Lin dies, without him, the young prodigies of the Northern Aristocracy would still crush us.”

“Right now, we need Mu Lin, not the other way around. We have no choice but to swallow his threats.”

Lu Yangyao had no rebuttal.

Thus, the Lu Family head, bearing precious treasures, made his way to Mu Lin’s courtyard, hoping to reach an understanding with him.

Mu Lin, however, remained unaware of all this.

At the moment, he was having Yan Yunyu and Si Ye investigate the mastermind behind his assassination attempt while he himself focused on secluded cultivation.

In fact, most of Mu Lin’s attention was on the latter.

He understood clearly that strength was the foundation of everything.

Without formidable strength, he would have died in yesterday’s assassination.

Now, his ability to threaten the North-South Clans and force them to find the culprit for him also relied on his strength.

Therefore, after the assassination attempt, Mu Lin dared not slacken in his efforts to enhance his power.

Fortunately for Mu Lin, due to the Black-Robed Elder being inherently countered by him, this assassination attempt did not cause him any significant injuries. In fact, it hardly disrupted his cultivation schedule at all.

A day later, Mu Lin’s Gang Qi and Baleful Qi had fused considerably further.

Today also marked the second-to-last day before Mu Lin’s promotion to Mortal Shedding Adept.

Beyond the rapid fusion of Gang Qi and Baleful Qi proceeding as planned, the death of the Black-Robed Elder brought Mu Lin another benefit.

He had acquired another Spirit Tool.

The Ouroboros Sword had also been refined by Mu Lin using the True Spirit Karma Diagram.

After refining it, Mu Lin discovered that this sword was powerful—extremely powerful.

In fact, through refining this Dharma Sword, Mu Lin’s Grandmaster-level skill—Calligraphy—had even improved slightly, and he had comprehended a new Source Rune.

(End of Chapter)