2431  A Celebratory Imperial Banquet

Lin Mu could sense the woman's erratic heart that seemed to be racing.

The pulse was strong enough that he could almost hear it, if not feel it, from her arms.

'She really means it.' Lin Mu grasped.

Looking into her eyes, Lin Mu took a light breath and spoke.

"We can talk about how you can repay me later. For now, I suppose we have more people waiting." Lin Mu stated before glancing at the others, who were now approaching them.

Crown Prince Feng Shun was at the front and the man quickly walked towards him before dragging him into a hug.

"Haha! It's good to have you back!" Crown Prince Feng Shun's face seemed to glow at that moment, his exhaustion seemingly vanishing.

"Amithabha, I knew the Buddha would not let you leave the Embrace of Life just yet," Monk Hushu said with a praying gesture.

Smiles could be seen on the faces of everyone, as they couldn't help but rejoice at this moment.

"We thought we wouldn't see you for a long time." Ziran spoke.

"I thought so too." Lin Mu replied. "But it seems like the Saintess saved me from that." He smiled at her veiled face.

Unknown to him and the others, a slight smile also appeared under the veiled face of the Saintess.

~ROAR~

Though a second later, his attention was dragged to a loud roar and the sound of tearing wind. Lin Mu sensed a familiar presence and knew who it exactly was.

"MASTER!" The voice of Little Shrubby was heard as his form could be seen rushing towards him.

"Little Shrubby!" Lin Mu called out to the beast, who quickly shrank down to his kitten form and rushed into his arms.

"I missed you!" Little Shrubby said as he rubbed his head on Lin Mu's chest endlessly.

"I missed you too," Lin Mu said as he petted the kitten's head to no extent.

Everyone watched the heartful reunion of the two and couldn't help but chuckle at it. The fierce form of Lin Mu slaughtering enemies mercilessly seemed almost an illusion when they compared it to this.

The two seemingly talked amongst themselves, with only one other individual understanding their words; the Saintess.

But the others didn't need to understand it to know how they were feeling right now.

They didn't disturb the two and let them be for a few minutes before Little Shrubby seemingly feel asleep in Lin Mu's arms. "He should be very tired." Crown Princess Shang spoke.

"He has been working hard." Daoist Chu nodded.

"Working? What has Little Shrubby been doing?" Lin Mu asked, not knowing about his new reputation.

"He's been hunting down people affiliated with the Black Ying Empire." Crown Princess Shang answered.

"Huh? What empire is that?" Lin Mu was very confused hearing that.

~Sigh~

"There's a lot that has happened in these 25 years." Lady Kang spoke after a bit of silence.

She had been composing herself as a storm of emotions stirred within her, and she had finally managed to calm it enough to talk normally.

Lin Mu furrowed his brows, knowing that this was something bound to have happened. "Come on! We got a lot to talk about," Crown Prince Feng Shun said as he dragged Lin Mu. "We'll head to my palace." He added.

"Just talk? We need a banquet for this." a new voice was heard, making everyone look to the sky.

There a man exuding a majestic aura was standing, dressed in the Imperial robes.

"Father." Crown Prince Feng Shun greeted the man.

"Emperor Feng." Lin Mu cupped his hands in greeting.

"To the saviour of my bloodline, I cannot thank you enough." Emperor Feng spoke. "I also cannot let your awakening go without a celebration. It would be inauspicious to not celebrate this day." He added.

"Of course!" Crown Prince Feng Shun was in a staunch agreement.

"It would be nice to have a banquet after all that work." Daoist Chu was in favor too.

"I could definitely go for some liquor." Ziran nodded.

"Then it is decided!" Emperor Feng declared, and quickly sent out a string of messages.

Lin Mu looked at his state and knew that he had to change, since he was basically naked from the waist up and covered in quite a bit of blood. Thankfully, that was easily fixable since he simply burned it all away with some fire and used the Silver Mirage Circlet to create a new set of clothes.

06:29

Lin Mu looked at his state and knew that he had to change, since he was basically naked from the waist up and covered in quite a bit of blood. Thankfully, that was easily fixable since he simply burned it all away with some fire and used the Silver Mirage Circlet to create a new set of clothes.

With that, their destination was changed from the Crown Prince's palace to the Grand Palace of the Dao Wind Empire. And by the time the group reached it, the entire place was already in a mix of panic and excitement.

Banners were hung up in that short amount of time, as illusory lights glowed in the sky.

It was already close to the evening, thus they looked rather beautiful. Upon stepping inside, Lin Mu could see the decorations already having been completed.

"This is fast." He couldn't help but mutter.

"The Imperial Servants are highly versed in decoration and banquet preparations. They have everything prepared for a banquet to be initiated at a moment's notice." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.

"Huh… that's something." Lin Mu didn't expect it to be this high of a priority.

"The imperials always have to be ready to meet unexpected guests and people of importance. Something like this is a necessary formality." Crown Princess Shang chimed in.

"I didn't know." Lin Mu was impressed.

"The Kang clan has something similar too." Min Ju spoke up. "When you visit us, we'll be sure to show you our hospitality." She said, taking a look at her mistress.

Lady Kang nodded in agreement and spoke, "we definitely wish for you to be there." "I'll come, of course." Lin Mu wouldn't deny that. 'I'd have to go there anyways.' He knew there was still a lot of work he needed to do for the Kang clan.

The group chatted as they glanced at the decorations and finally reached the Imperial Court, which had already been turned into a banquet hall.

Food was being brought in, and the servants were rushing everywhere, setting things up.

A short while later, the scene had changed to that of a very jovial one as they chatted and ate. Lin Mu had not eaten food with his real body for a long time now, as such wasn't going to miss the chance eating so much.

While he had his reserve food in his storage, it still didn't match what he was getting to eat here now. The Imperial chefs were certainly worth their salt and had made food that was not only good in taste, but also good for one's cultivation.

Despite having absorbed a lot of energy from the blood pool and storing it, Lin Mu's stomach quickly got to working on doing more.

Little Shrubby also woke up from the scent of food and was fed by Lin Mu. The kitten enjoyed the pampering a lot and asked for his other 'siblings' to be called out too, which Lin Mu gladly obliged too.

The squad of two snakes, one kitten and one bird, went off on their own as they went to different platters to taste the food.

Though for them a single taste basically meant swallowing the platter whole, with the only exception being Ashy, who pecked at tiny pieces.

As an Imperial Banquet, the amount of food that was made was no joke, and the Emperor simply gave the orders for the kitchens to run nonstop until they were told to stop. As such, food was being cooked perpetually for them to consume.

Though of course, the main consumers ended up being Lin Mu and his tamed beasts.

Still, it was the tamed beasts who stopped eating first as they got full, but the man never did. In fact, Lin Mu felt like his capacity to eat had seemingly increased with the creation of the Seven Cores. He could particularly sense his Spleen, Liver, Kidneys and Heart working harder and better to process everything.

They also seemed to be absorbing the energy from the food, with Lin Mu sensing the Cores growing.

'Looks like with the complete formation of spherical cores, I don't need to actively use the Omnicore Ascendancy to absorb energy,' Lin Mu learned.

It was rather good for him, as he could now passively grow the cores in this way.

This simply ended up giving him an excuse to try everything in the menu, as different materials were needed for the Cores to grow. As such, Lin Mu simply ate them until they gave him no more growth and switched to another dish.

The Emperor couldn't help but marvel at the man's inhuman appetite, with the others simply shaking their head. His companions had already seen this aspect of Lin Mu several times before.

The Saintess sat across Lin Mu, and was sipping on a cup of wine. It was rather surprising to see her in attendance.

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