Lin Mu didn't know whether to laugh or cry upon seeing Little Shrubby and just decided to join him instead. He knew that Xiaobao would take a few more hours to fully be done with the process and that they had time.
Lin Mu and Little Shrubby lounged around and ate the stew while Xiaobao was done. Three hours passed like this before Xiaobao woke up and looked at them.
~HUU~
A gust of hot air was released from the nostrils of Xiaobao and he seemed to be a bit happy.
"Thank you," He said calmly.
"That's fine. It belonged to your father so you can keep it. I'm happy it helped your breakthrough." Lin Mu replied.
"I never thought I would be able to breakthrough. I didn't think I needed to. All I wanted to do was to fulfill my father's wish. And now that is done as well." Xiaobao said with a hint of melancholy.
Hearing this Lin Mu thought for a bit and spoke.
"What are you going to do now?" Lin Mu questioned.
"Just what I have been doing all this time I guess. Live here." Xiaobao answered.
"Do you want to perhaps come with me?" Lin Mu asked.
To this, Xiaobao gave that answer instantly.
"No… I'd like to stay here where my father once lived. I don't go anywhere else in this world either and have no need. I'm fine where I am." Xiaobao replied.
"Ah… I see. That is fine I guess." Lin Mu replied.
Lin Mu didn't really want to force the beast if it had no desire to do so. He had just asked him casually and wasn't really sure either.
'Guess I should return now. No need waiting here now.' Thought to himself.
"We'll take our leave now, Xiaobao. I hope you live well." Lin Mu bid him farewell.
"Good bye." Xiaobao replied.
Lin Mu and Little Shrubby then left for the portrait of Kong Hutao and reached it rather quickly. Since they already knew the location and the distance, Lin Mu simply got onto Little Shrubby's back and reached their destination.
Quickly entering the inner cave where the portrait was located, Lin Mu saw Kong Hutao.
"You're back!" Kong Hutao's portrait awakened.
"I am indeed. I got the key," Lin Mu said as he withdrew the rectangular object from his ring.
"That's truly the key. How was the journey? Did you meet Bao?" Kong Hutao questioned.
"The journey was fine, but I did not meet Bao. But I did meet his son." Lin Mu answered.
"His son?! Oh, tell me more." Kong Hutao asked.
Lin Mu then went on to explain all that had happened in the past few days along with the story of Bao and how the humans attacked them. The more Kong Hutao heard it the more his brows furrowed.
"The men of the Gu Clan, no doubt. Those kinds of techniques and clothes belong to them. They are the ones that attacked Bao's family." Kong Hutao said, anger visible in his eyes.
"Huh? They were from the Gu clan? The one from the northern tribes?" Lin Mu asked feeling surprised.
"Indeed. There is no doubt. Only they would have the intelligence about the sacred grounds of my clan and that I unleashed it here. Some of their experts are specialized in remote sensing and can tell when certain things happen.
They've existed for a long time and have their spies mixed into many different places all over the continents. There were some in the Western continent as well and had once targeted my clan.
They were after the inheritance grounds for a long time and I wouldn't be shocked if they were the same even after thousands of years." Kong Hutao explained.
Hearing this Lin Mu was rather shocked. He did not know the Gu clan was this ancient.
"Are they related to Gu Yao and his clan as well?" Lin Mu questioned feeling doubtful.
He had already told Kong Hutao all about Gu Yao, and thus the man was informed about him.
"From all that I've heard from you, I think the majority of the Gu clan must have been eradicated by now. Or they went into hiding. The clan that Gu Yao belongs to was probably one of the branches.
Poor Xiaobao, he lost everything that he had and yet kept up his father's duty." Kong Hutao answered.
"I felt sad for him too and asked if he wanted to come with me. But he denied and said that he'd like to stay in the place that was his father's home." Lin Mu replied.
"Hmm… that is probably for the best. His kind is not something that can be found in our world usually. I was lucky that I found Bao, and I didn't even know what kind of a turtle beast he was.
Xiaobao is even rarer since his mother is a Great Reef turtle." Kong Hutao said.
"Oh? You know about Great Reef Turtles?" Lin Mu questioned.
"Mmhmm, but not much. I didn't know about the Great Island turtles and only learned about them from you just now. But I've heard of the Great Reef Turtles. There were some old records left behind by my ancestors.
I don't know where they got those from but they were certainly not from this world. In those records, I learned of a great world that was many times massive than ours. But it was also very different.
Unlike our world that had land as well as oceans, that world only had water covering its entirety. And on that world, a beast called as the Great Reef Turtles lived. I do not know where that world is or how my ancestors got this information but I do know that no one else has it. Not even the great powers of my time do." Kong Hutao explained.
Hearing this, Lin Mu's ears perked up. After all, this all sounded very familiar to him now.
"Senior Xukong this… is that perhaps the oceanic world we saw?" Lin Mu said in his mind.