Chapter 122: A hard task

As expected, Wei Chou joyfully agreed to Qin Lei's transfer order and immediately transferred over to the Falcon Guards from the Tiger Guards. Although his salary was decreased quite a bit, but he did not care about it at all.

In the afternoon, Lin Mu Yu rode his horse alone to the temple.

"Sir, you're back!?"

The temple guards looked at him with excited gaze.  The news that Lin Mu Yu had been exiled to the Heaven Connecting Tower had been made public, so people were surprised when they saw that Lin Mu Yu had returned alive.

After entering the temple, he saw that it was the same as before.  The sparing masters and teachers were all focused on training.  There was only a single person that rode a horse out and met Lin Mu Yu.  It was not someone he was unfamiliar with, it was Zhang Wei.

"Zhang Wei, where are you going?"  Lin Mu Yu was surprised.

Zhang Wei had a face of pleasant surprise as he looked at him, but he scratched his head as he smiled and said, "Sir Lin Mu Yu, you're back……It's a pity that I, Old Zhang need to leave.  I received my appointment yesterday and I was about to leave the temple."

"Where were you a.s.signed?"

"Imperial guard Commander Feng Ji Xing has personally recommended me as an officer of the imperial guard.  I should be a thousand man commander!"

"Then congratulations!"

Lin Mu Yu revealed a faint smile, "This can be considered quite a high promotion."

Zhang Wei felt a little helpless as he laughed and said, "Actually I quite like working in the temple.  I am a very straightforward person, so I don't know how many people I'll offend in the imperial guards with my personality!"

Lin Mu Yu patted his own chest and said, "Look, didn't I also leave the temple and join the Imperial Guards?"

"It's not the same, you're still a member of the temple."

Zhang Wei reminiscently turned his head to look at the halls and said, "I am leaving the temple forever and become a member of the imperial guards.  Ai……."

Lin Mu Yu patted his shoulder, "It's fine, you will always be my friend and you will always be welcome to come back and visit the temple."

"Un!"

Zhan Wei heavily nodded, "Then I'm off!"

"Alright, if there's time, we will meet again."

"That's right.  I'm off!"

Zhang Wei quietly rode off on his horse, but his back seemed a little desolate.

Lin Mu Yu tied up his horse and then picked up the prairie sword as he went to the temple main hall.  Far away on the water pavilion corridor, he saw Ge Yang.  Then he smiled and said, "Deacon Ge Yang, good afternoon."

"Ah Yu, you're back?"  Ge Yang laughed and said, "The great deacon did not guess wrong, he was certain you would be back.  Come, I'll lead you to him now!"

"Alright!"

In the main hall, Lei Hong was sitting in the great deacon's lion headed chair.  His eyes had a piercing light in them as he smiled and said, "Ah Yu, quickly tell your Grandpa, what happened in the Heaven Connecting Tower?"

Lin Mu Yu respectfully stood there as he summarized everything that happened in the Heaven Connecting Tower, but he did not mention the things with the Seven Luminary Demon King.  Lei Hong and Ge Yang were dumbfounded as they listened and after a while, Ge Yang emotionally said, "I never would have thought that Qin Hong would still be living in the Heaven Connecting Tower.  He should be several hundred years old now….."

Lei Hong narrowed his eyes and said, "He has not stepped into the G.o.d Realm, so he does not have the ability to live forever.  Living like this is only delaying the inevitable.  If it was me, perhaps I would rather die than make a deal with the devil inside of the purgatory."

Ge Yang smiled and said, "It's truly great that Ah Yu could live through all of it!  That's right, you should be back to the temple because you have something you want to do, right?"

"That's right."

Lin Mu Yu nodded and then tugged on the armour on his shoulder.  He smiled and said, "This Falcon Guard's armour is really uncomfortable, so I came back to ask Grandpa Lei Hong for a few sets of temple battle clothes.  I don't know if there are any more of the set I ordered.  The last set was melted when I pa.s.s through Planes."

Lei Hong could not help smiling, "So it was for this?  That's fine, it's already been prepared for you.  Someone come, bring Ah Yu's temple golden sparring master's battle clothes here."

The doors opened and two guards respectfully holding a set of battle clothes came in.  The armour with the symbol of a golden sparring master s.h.i.+ned brightly.

Lei Hong smiled and said, "This set was personally made according to my orders.  It was made with thousand year old mysterious iron and have precious buoyancy stones embedded within which can help you withstand pressure.  How about you try it on?"

"Alright!"

Lin Mu Yu excitedly took the pullover armour and entered the inner hall to change.  Immediately he began to s.h.i.+ne the moment he put it on.  There were eight black stones imbedded into the armour which should have been the buoyancy stones Lei Hong mentioned.  The armour itself should have weighed one hundred jins, but it felt like it weighed less than fifty jins.  This whole set of armour could have been considered a high level treasure.  He quickly cupped his hands as he joyfully said, "Many thanks Grandpa Lei Hong, I really like this armour."

"It's good that you like it!"

Lei Hong gently stroked his white beard as he casually said, "This was made by our skilled temple forging masters known throughout the world……That's right, Ah Yu, didn't you apply to become a Falcon Guard?  When do you leave for the falcon's nest?"

"I’m going this afternoon."

"Good, then Grandpa won't keep you.  The Falcon Guards carry out dangerous tasks, so you have to be careful!"

"Yes.  Then I'll be going now Grandpa?"

"Alright!"

Ge Yang walked him out to the door.  He sighed as he walked, "Ah Yu, now that you and Zhang Wei are leaving, our temple will be lacking in talent once again.  It seems like the only talented person in the younger generation will be the little prince Qin Yan."

Lin Mu Yu gave a faint smile, "Little prince Qin Yan is smart and talented, he is good material to be molded.  With good training, he will definitely become an expert."

"Yes.  Anyway, Ah Yu, you have to come back and visit in the future."

"Un, alright Grandpa Ge Yang!"

After that, he went to the Spiritual Medicine Department.  He went to say goodbye to Chu Yao before going to the falcon's nest.

The so called falcon's nest was a facility established outside of Orchid Goose City.  It had two main functions, one was to provide important intelligence on the empire to Ze Tian Palace.  The second was to enter the mountains and hunt spirit beasts.  They provided Ze Tian Palace with spirit stones, meat, and etc.  The falcon nest would be busy every autumn, preparing food for the winter.

After leaving the city, he galloped across a small road for several kilometers.  Far off, he could see the barracks established in the mountain range close to Orchid Goose City which was the falcon's nest.  The falcon's nest was a newly established department and was subordinate to the Imperial Guards.  The camp itself was very crude.  There was a main building in the center of the camp, but the majority of the camp was made up of tents.  They were all ugly like they had been casually built with plants.  It was no wonder that Feng Ji Xing and Qin Lei both said the Falcon Guards had a rough time, it could clearly be seen.

There were not many people guarding the falcon's nest.  There were only around two hundred people, if the one hundred and ten people Lin Mu Yu commanded were included.

As they rode their horses across the mountain road, Wei Chou came out to greet them.  He gave an imperial army salute and said, "General, the head commander is in the central building waiting for you.  Come quickly!

"Lead the way."

"Yes!"

They quickly came to the falcon's nest and Lin Mu Yu led the cavalry line.  Looking down, they found that this cliff was very steep and the camp was built very high up on the cliff.  No wonder the department was called the falcon's nest.

The falcon's nest had seven hundred man commanders and one falcon's nest head commander.  Lin Mu Yu was one of the seven hundred man commander and the head commander was a man named Meng Fang.  It's said that his ancestor was a famous commander in his generation, but after countless thousands of years, his family had no one notable left in this generation.  He was just a trifling one thousand man head commander, how could he be consider someone noteworthy?

Entering the central command building, Lin Mu Yu cupped his hand and said, "Lin Mu Yu is here to see the head commander!"

Meng Fang was a man around forty years old with a very rugged face.  He laughed as he stood up and said, "Sir Lin Mu Yu is finally here, quickly sit down.  Your arrival here is just like a timely rainfall!"

"What happened?"  Lin Mu Yu sat down and asked.

Meng Fang hesitantly said in a worried voice, "Ze Tian Palace gave us a material collecting task half a month ago.  We need to find two 4000 year old or higher fire attributed spirit stone, a 5000 year old or higher rock attributed spirit stone, a 5000 year old or higher light attributed spirit stone, twenty 1000 year old or higher Cloud Deers, one hundred pieces of 500 year old or higher Swift Wolf skins, ten piece of 1000 year old or higher Fire Fox skins, and 1000 kilograms of wild mountain boars.  They said that this was all necessary for the priest to use in the year end ceremony."

Lin Mu Yu felt a little dizzy hearing this.  He smiled and said, "Out of all these duties, how many have we completed?"

Meng Fang coughed a few times and revealed an awkward smile, "Out of the seven commanders, four have been sent to the Cangnan Province to carry out an investigation.  Two of them have been heavily injured when they were sent to kill a 6000 year old Rock Sheep.  The last one is in charge of killing Swift Wolves.  So, the only person I can send out now is you."

"Then when should I depart?"

"The sooner the better!"

Meng Fang looked over in the direction of Orchid Goose City and said, "I'll be honest with you, the two fire attributed spirit stones are being prepared to Princess Xi, the 5000 year old rock attributed spirit stone is being prepared for little prince Qin Yan, and the 5000 year old light attributed spirit stone is being prepared for her highness Yin.  I know that general Lin is acquainted with them, so I thought this task was the most suitable for you."

After saying this, Meng Fang coughed and then said, "Truthfully speaking, you are the strongest person in the falcon's nest.  If the others were sent to kill a 5000 year old spirit beast, I would be worried about whether they could defend themselves……"

"Un, I understand."

Lin Mu Yu stood up.  He cupped his hands as he smiled and said, "Head commander, how many people are you going to give me?"

"Fifty men that includes ten Imperial Guards in the Earth Realm.  Is that alright?"

"Alright, many thanks."

"No need to be polite, I wish for general Lin's success!"

After leaving the central command building, Wei Chou's slanted brows knit together as he said, "General, this head commander is clearly bullying us new Falcon Guards by giving this material collecting task to us.  This subordinate has clearly seen several Imperial Guards idling around the camp playing chess or going hunting.  He's actually making us do this kind of dangerous task, he really is despicable!"

Lin Mu Yu breathed out, then he smiled and said, "Lower your voice.  Just treat it as giving work to those that are capable!  Go and pick out some elite soldiers.  We will be leaving for the Dragon Seeking Forest tonight, so be sure to bring supplies.  Just treat this trip as gaining experience."

"Yes!"