Everyone was currently sitting in the Kong plane, in one of the caves that the servants had set up as a meeting hall. This was one of the recent developments and was made on a suggestion by adviser Liu.
He said that since the Kong plane will be used as a junction for many locations, it will be better to have a meeting hall for the alliance right here. And that was exactly what Lin Mu got set up.
Clearing up some of the rocks in the cave for making the hall took Lin Mu barely a few minutes and the rest of the work was simply done by the servants that Adviser Liu sent in. The formations were easy to set up as well as Lin Mu simply needed to expand on the already existing ones.
Since he was already the owner of the plane, it was a piece of cake for him.
Two weeks had passed since Elder Liqiang had left for the Noon Grass sect. Lin Mu and Jing Luo had gotten a bit anxious since they had received no message since that day and were a bit worried.
They had tried contacting Elder Liqiang as well, but they received no response.
"Do you think he may be in danger?" Adviser Liu asked.
"It's possible, but if he was in trouble, he should have contacted us at the very start." Lin Mu replied.
"What about the others at the Noon Grass sect? Do they know anything? We still have a contract with them right?" Jing Luo asked.
"I've talked with the master and the other elders. They are worried about Elder Liqiang too." Hua San replied.
'Just what could it be…' Lin Mu thought as he fiddled his fingers.
'For a Dao Shell realm cultivator like Elder Liqiang to be unable to contact us, it should have been something that either knocked him out directly, or managed to trap him somehow.' Lin Mu tried to think.
"What are the likely dangers that he can face on his way there? Do you know of them?" King Hong questioned the Noon Grass disciples.
"While there are dangerous areas on the way to the Noon Grass sect, most of them are something that shouldn't trouble a Dao Shell realm cultivator like Elder Liqiang." Hua San replied.
"What about beasts? Are there any that can threaten them?" one of the ministers questioned.
"Hmm… there are a few areas where Nascent soul realm beasts live and are dangerous to the average cultivator, but for Elder Liqiang it is still simple to bypass or fight them." Hua San answered again.
Everyone discussed and tried to figure out the reason behind the lack of communication, and it finally reached a point where they could not go forward.
"That's it. We'll end this for today. No use discussing it further. All we can do now is wait…" Lin Mu said, dismissing everyone.
"As you wish, Senior Lin Mu." Everyone said and started to leave.
~Sigh~
Lin Mu sighed and felt a hand on his shoulder.
"We'll figure something out, don't worry." Jing Luo said.
"I know, but I just feel like we should have gone along with him as well. At least that way we would have finished the task even if we would have lost some time." Lin Mu said.
"We shouldn't try to do everything ourselves when we have people to help us. You should know that it is a very inefficient way of running things by now." Jing Luo explained.
"I know…" Lin Mu said in a low voice.
~humm~
But just as he finished saying that, he felt the communication jade slip on his waist, hum lightly. His eyes went wide and he immediately grabbed on to it.
Jing Luo watched Lin Mu and waited for him to be done.
"What is it?" Jing Luo asked, after waiting for five minutes and seeing no response from Lin Mu.
Lin Mu opened his eyes that had a sharp look in them.
"Get ready, we are leaving for the south." Lin Mu stated.
"But what happened?" Jing Luo questioned.
"Elder Liqiang… he's likely trapped in some ruins in the Broken Sand desert." Lin Mu answered.
"Huh? Who told you this?" Jing Luo asked as ideas appeared in his mind.
"It was Elder Hua. He is currently in the Long Cloud sect discussing a meeting with them. He learned there that an old ruin with the inheritance of an old expert named Kushao has reappeared.
The site where it appeared is in the broken sand desert, which is before the Noon Grass sect. It is quite likely that Elder Liqiang is trapped there. If it is anything like an inheritance ground, it should probably restrain people inside till the task is completed." Lin Mu answered.
Jing Luo furrowed his brows as he recalled the name Kushao.
"I never would have thought the ruins would appear again. They were thought to be lost after the last time they opened. Some disaster was said to have happened then which closed them forever and they disappeared in the Broken Sand desert." Jing Luo remembered.
"That's what I'm worried about. If it is a different plane like the Kong Plane, then Elder Liqiang may truly be trapped. After all, the formation arrays of the ruins were already damaged." Lin Mu explained.
"If that's true, then we need to hurry. Do they have any idea how long Elder Liqiang may have been in there?" Jing Luo asked.
"It should not have been that long. It takes two days from the Broken Sand desert to reach the Noon Grass sect and it's been two weeks since he left, so at most he should have gotten trapped five or six days ago." Lin Mu replied.
"Hmm… and I'm guessing if the Long Cloud sect knows about it, the other sects do as well?" Jing Luo asked.
"They do, of course." Lin Mu said in a slightly tired tone.
"That means we will have to be careful there. We will probably have eyes on us. The sect disciples won't let this chance go to get some more inheritances." Jing Luo guessed.
"We'll need to prepare…"