Jing Luo and Lin Mu both had not expected to receive news such as this today.
"Who told you this?" Jing Luo asked.
"Adviser Liu just informed me. They got the news just a few minutes ago when a messenger arrived with it." Lin Mu replied.
"What? How did it happen?" Jing Luo asked.
"Come on, we'll go and talk to them ourselves. We'll tell King Hong later, his communication jade slip should work now anyway with the new communicator." Lin Mu said.
Jing Luo nodded his head, and Lin Mu took him back to the royal palace.
~shua~
The two figures appeared in the circle of runes and looked at the people that were standing around them.
"Senior Lin Mu, Senior Jing Luo." The ministers and the rest greeted.
With King Hong staying in the Kong plane, the phenomenon with the fire elemental spirit Qi accumulating had passed and now normal people and cultivators could enter the area of the place.
The work had gone to normal, and all the people were working at full force now.
"What happened?" Lin Mu questioned.
"We received news that Wu Xun, the minister of Shuang Qian kingdom, has died just a few minutes ago. He died over a month ago, but the Shuang Qian kingdom didn't let the news spread until now, probably to take care of the issues that would arise due to his death.
The news was released by their official decree and was sent to the Empire. We got the report from one of our informers there." Adviser Liu answered.
"Huh? How did he die, though? He should be fine with his position and Gu Yao as his backing. Just what happened?" Lin Mu questioned.
"We don't know. They did not reveal the cause, though there are many rumors already spreading, from murder, poisoning, and all the way to a heavenly tribulation." Adviser Liu answered.
Hearing this, Lin Mu furrowed his brows. Wu Xun's death was something that was determined to happen in the future, as there was no way Lin Mu was going to let the man live.
After all, Wu Xun was indirectly responsible for the death of his parents and many others in the Northern town. Even Wu Hei was fine with it and knew that his father needed to receive the punishment, eventually.
But his death now was out of the blue and made Lin Mu wonder if this was some other ploy by Gu Yao instead.
'No… not just Gu Yao… it could be others too…' Lin Mu thought.
There were many enemies that Wu Xun had gained over the many years. Even with Gu Yao's influence and control, there were still many that could not be restrained. While they were in a weaker position than Wu Xun and Gu Yao; there was still a chance they could have plotted something that Gu Yao and Wu Xun failed to notice.
'Can it really be like that? Did their arrogance cause their downfall?' Lin Mu wondered.
If it really was like, it would be really advantageous to them. But at the same time, it would add some unknown variables that's may force them to change their approach.
"What do we do now?" one of the ministers asked.
"Yes, what should our response be? Wu Xun is the brother of that Gu Yao right?"
Everyone here now knew the situation with Gu Yao and thus were knowledgeable about everything related to it. Having this knowledge among the allies was important, so that there was no lapse in judgment or misunderstandings.
"It's not what we do, but rather what Gu Yao will do. No… he should have already started to act, we just don't know what it is." Lin Mu spoke.
It was now that Jing Luo said something that occurred to him.
"Who is it that's taking over Wu Xun's position now? If it has been a month, then they should have taken care of it, right?" Jing Luo questioned.
"There is no information about it yet, but our people are working on gathering more as we speak. We should receive updates any moment now." Adviser Liu said.
Jing Luo nodded and sat down to think with Lin Mu, who was already deep in thought.
Ten minutes passed during which the ministers discussed potential actions that they might need to take, after which a new message finally arrived. Adviser Liu held his communication jade slip and heard the message.
A few seconds later, he opened his eyes that had a hint of confusion mixed in them.
"What's that news?" Jing Luo asked.
"The new minister replacing Wu Xun… it's none other than his son… Wu Hei." Adviser Liu revealed, sending a wave of surprise throughout the hall.
Lin Mu who heard it though, felt differently.
"No way!" Lin Mu suddenly exclaimed.
"What's the matter?" Jing Luo asked with concern.
"You remember I told you about the plans I made whit Wu Hei when we were dealing with the Tri Cauldron peony sect?" Lin Mu replied.
"Yeah, you made plans on how to do the same with other sects to weaken them. But we know that option did not work out since you almost got caught and had to run." Jing Luo said.
"Indeed. But in addition to that, we discussed many other options and plan. Most of them were just theoretical ones, and we were simply trying to find something that might work.
And in those plans, one such plan was Wu Hei taking over the position of an official. Originally it was him doing this through the official channels and moving up eventually to gather power, but I think he is doing it in a different manner now." Lin Mu answered.
"Huh? So you mean to say… Wu Hei killed his father to take over his position as the minister?" Jing Luo asked.
"Mmhmm… while the original plan was different, I think Wu Hei has done this to pull our attention. This may be his way of sending a signal since he knows Gu Yao would probably find out if he did something directly.." Lin Mu explained.