Chapter 2447 Traitors Within
The soldiers watched Lin Mu while feeling his immortal sense sweeping over them. The speed of it was a bit surprising to them, as they barely felt it before the Immortal Sense had moved on. If they weren't at attention, they would have easily missed it.
It didn't take much to convince them that the person in front of them was not simple, even if they couldn't sense his cultivation base right now.
Lin Mu counted that there were over a hundred thousand personnel here, with their cultivation bases varying from the First Tribulation Stage of the Immortal Realm all the way to the Fifth Tribulation Stage of the Immortal Realm.
Though there was just one Fifth Tribulation Stage Immortal among them and he was standing at the very front, along with three more individuals. Their uniforms told Lin Mu that they were all of the same rank, but the cultivation base of the other three was at the peak of the Fourth Tribulation Stage of the Immortal Realm.
Such a group of immortal would be considered very powerful in most places in the Immortal Realm and for most kingdoms or empires, this alone could serve as the entire army. But Lin Mu knew that this was merely a fragment of the army, which had hundreds of millions of cultivators in it. But as Lin Mu was watching them, a frown suddenly appeared on his face.
"Little Shrubby, come." He said in a low voice.
The soldiers wouldn't be able to hear it, but Crown Prince Feng Shun and Commander Dui certainly heard it.
"What is it?" Crown Prince Feng Shun noticed Lin Mu's expression.
But Lin Mu didn't reply and instead sent communicated with Little Shrubby. A few seconds later, a red blur sneaked in from the back. Its size was rather small, so no one noticed it, especially since they were all focused on the three individuals in front of them.
Only when a kitten walked up to Lin Mu and jumped on his shoulder did they see it. Though it was a confusing thing to them. They didn't know what the beast was either, other than the fact that it looked rather harmless and cute.
The women among them particularly found it adorable, and if not for the fact that they had to follow discipline, they might have already walked up to pet the kitten.
"Crown Prince, A sound barrier." Lin Mu said concisely.
~SHUA~
In response, Crown Prince Feng Shun made a hand seal, causing an invisible current of wind to flow around them, isolating all sound. The man didn't question why Lin Mu needed this, as the two had long since developed a tacit understanding about things like these.
Though the Commander was certainly confused about it.
But as soon as Lin Mu spoke, he was shocked.
"There's people of the Black Ying Empire here." Lin Mu stated. "Or at least those that are under Yao Changying's influence." He added.
His words were very alarming to the two, yet knowing the gravity of the situation, they kept their composure. If Lin Mu's words were true, any drastic expression at their end could very well alert the suspects watching them, making things difficult.
Right now, Lin Mu's appearance and the Crown Prince setting up a barrier might seem a bit strange, but to the soldiers, it wasn't that bad. There was the plausible deniability that they were simply talking about some private matters they couldn't know yet, or were simply judging them in some way.
As for Little Shrubby, while his reputation as the Crimson Phantom was widespread and the Black Ying Empire was most certainly aware about him, they didn't actually know about his ability to change sizes.
There was no way they would be able to make a correlation between the massive liger beast that hunted them down, and the tiny kitten that was sitting on Lin Mu's shoulder. Even the colors were different, as in his kitten form Little Shrubby had a brighter red and orange color with a white belly, while in his full form he had a darker crimson fur.
His mane also disappeared while in the kitten form, which made him look drastically different. Not to mention, the imposing aura of the beast was also missing.
"Did you sense them?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked, feeling both surprised and pleased. "We haven't been able to sense them ourselves so far." "I can vaguely feel a similar energy to that of the Black Fin Island members here." Lin Mu replied. "Its why I called Little Shrubby over so that he can sniff them out accurately." He added.
"I see." Crown Prince Feng Shun narrowed his eyes.
"Who are they?" Commander Dui asked, feeling a mix of concern and anger. They had vetted the people here throughly thus learning that there could be traitors inside was very shocking. But he also knew of Little Shrubby's ability to find the Black Ying Empire members thus, he didn't doubt it much.
"Which ones are they, Little Shrubby?" Lin Mu asked the beast.
~SNIFF~
The kitten lightly sniffed the air and decided on the fates of the people present.
"There are ten," Little Shrubby replied before giving the exact positions.
Lin Mu narrowed his eyes as he heard them finding one of them to be particularly surprising.
"Four in the Third last row from the left. Two in the Eight Row at the twenty third position and the fifty eighth position. One in the twenty sixth row, at position Thirty third." Lin Mu began pointing out. "Two in the Fourth row, at the opposite ends and finally… the one at the very front… Second from right." He revealed.
Commander Dui's eyes turned furious as soon as he heard them all, the last one particularly enraging him.
"The Lieutenant is in it too…" Crown Prince Feng Shun had not expected that. "Can you do restrain them?" Lin Mu asked. "I'll handle the lieutenant," he stated.
"Of course." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "I'll take the ones at the back, Commander Dui take the middle."