778 Kong Hutao
Lin Mu's hand extended and touched the frame of the Spirit painting.
~shua~
The moment he did so, a wave of spirit Qi emanated from the portrait. Then in the next second, the painting moved and blinked. Lin Mu stepped back and stared at the portrait for a few seconds.
The person in the portrait seemed to be doing the same thing, and it was evident that it was trying to figure out what was happening. Just like a person who had woken up from a deep sleep, the person in the portrait was a bit disoriented.
He looked around and then back at Lin Mu, who was staring at him.
"So it is finally the time…" The man in the portrait spoke.
"Huh?" Lin Mu was a bit confused by the choice of the man's words.
"After ask these years… no wait, how long has it even been?" The man in the portrait questioned.
"I… don't know how long it has been for you either." Lin Mu replied.
"What year is it?" The man in the painting asked.
"Umm… three hundred and sixteenth year after the advent of the third Zhou Emperor?" Lin Mu said, recalling the date.
"Zhou Emperor? Who the hell is that?" The Man in the portrait said.
"The emperor of the Great Zhou Empire and the Great Zhou Continent." Lin Mu replied.
"Great Zhou Continent? What? This does not seem right… am I even in the right world?" The man in the portrait questioned.
Hearing this Lin Mu was now sure that whoever the painting belonged to probably existed long before the Great Zhou Empire and the continent were formed.
"Are you from the Central continent? Or the other four ones?" Lin Mu questioned.
The man in the portrait seemed to have understood something and looked at Lin Mu.
"Did… the continents manage to unify finally?" The man asked doubtfully.
"Yes they did… they did so over nine thousand years ago." Lin Mu answered.
"N-nine thousand years… this… am I too late?" The man in the portrait questioned himself.
Lin Mu knew that there was a lot of confusion and wanted to know who the man was.
"Who are you and what is this place?" Lin Mu questioned.
The man's brows furrowed upon hearing Lin Mu and he looked at Lin Mu strangely.
"How do you not know me? If you don't know me how did you even enter this place?" The man questioned.
Lin Mu was now even more confused and didn't know what the man was talking about.
"I just entered from the cave entrance at the top." Lin Mu answered, not telling the man about his 'real' method of entry yet.
"Impossible! Without the key, you cannot even find the cave not to mention enter." The man said. "And if you found the key you would very clearly know who I am."
Lin Mu now understood what the problem was.
'So there was a key to this place that was probably in a different place. Obtaining that key would probably tell more about this person and also give one the entry to his cave. This place is definitely and inheritance ground then.' Lin Mu thought.
"No I did not find any key. The entrance to the cave was already open when I came. Plus… I'm not the only one that came here. There have been many before me. Perhaps one of them had the key and opened the cave." Lin Mu stated.
"That is impossible. If the cave was ever opened, I would have known." The man said.
~Sigh~
'We'll just keep on going in circles like this…' Lin Mu thought.
"Seems like I need to tell you about the current situation then," Lin Mu stated.
The man in the portrait furrowed his brows and then nodded.
"Go on then…" The man in the portrait said.
Lin Mu then went on to explain everything that he had learned about this place and all that he had seen. He told the man about the current name of the minor plane, about it being called as the wandering sinkhole, and how hundreds if not thousands of people had been lost in here.
It took Lin Mu about two hours to finish explaining everything, during which the man in the portrait listened silently.
"And that's about it all." Lin Mu finished his explanation.
~Sigh~
The man in the painting sighed to himself and rubbed his forehead as if a headache had assaulted him.
"Never thought this would end up happening to my clan's inheritance ground… the fates are cruel and unkind." The man said in a sorrowful tone.
"This… is your clan's inheritance ground? What clan are you from?" Lin Mu asked.
~Sigh~
The man sighed to himself and looked at Lin Mu.
"Since you have managed to come this far, you may as well be the inheritor now. Although you will still need the key to become the true owner." The man in the portrait said, much to Lin Mu's shock.
"Me? The inheritor?" Lin Mu said feeling shocked.
"I am Kong Hutao, the last ancestor of the Kong Clan of the Western continent." The man revealed.
Hearing the name, Lin Mu felt like a bell was struck. He immediately recalled information about the Kong clan.
"The Kong Clan? The number one clan of the western continent?" Lin Mu inquired.
"Indeed… I am the last ancestor of that clan… or was." Kong Hutao replied.
"I thought… the Kong clan was exterminated and everyone from it died." Lin Mu said.
"We were indeed… I managed to escape at the expense of my clansmen who chose to sacrifice themselves to forcefully teleport me to the Central continent. They wanted me to take revenge for the clan… for the continent and all those that had died." Kong Hutao replied.
Lin Mu's brows furrowed and he felt like several of the events did not match up.
"What exactly happened? Can you tell me in detail?" Lin Mu questioned.
~Sigh~
"Fine… this will take a bit." Kong Hutao replied.
