The first thing that happened after this was…everyone was gathered in the main hall of the Love Sect to discuss this.
At the same time, Mu Bao Bao and a few of her ministers and generals were also called for this matter.
The ministers and generals were confused why they had been called here, but since it was Mu Bao Bao’s orders, they had no choice but to come. Though the looks on their faces made it clear that they were being disdainful.
They didn’t think that a small sect like the Love Sect should be able to summon someone as influential as Mu Bao Bao in the first place.
But that was quickly dispelled when they heard the situation.
The name Martial Might Sect immediately raised flags that they had no choice but to address.
It wasn’t so much the Martial Might Sect itself that was the problem, but rather where the Martial Might Sect was located.
It was the Wu Empire.
This Wu Empire was an empire that bordered the Mu Empire and wasn’t considered weaker than the Mu Empire.
There wasn’t a hostile relationship between the two empires, so it wasn’t strange that they would receive an invitation to this tournament held by the Martial Might Sect. But for the Martial Might Sect to invite the Love Sect that they had never invited before…
It was clear that they knew about the connection between Mu Bao Bao and the Love Sect.
But it also didn’t make sense since the Wu Empire had never shown signs of aggression towards the Mu Empire before.
For them to suddenly do this after what had happened in the Mu Empire and the first sect recruitment of the Love Sect…
Anyone would be able to see that there was some kind of ploy behind this.
As soon as they found out about this, the ministers and generals didn’t hold back at all.
“Your majesty, this is clearly a ploy against our Mu Empire!”
“Your majesty, we can’t let them look down on us like this! Please allow us to send our people to teach them a lesson!”
“Your majesty, we can’t just let a small sect like the Love Sect represent us. We must have those powerful closed sects of our empire come forth to represent us in this tournament!”
The ministers and generals gave all kinds of suggestions, but Mu Bao Bao seemed to ignore them all.
Her eyes had been on Lin Fan the entire time, as if she was thinking something.
Finally, she stopped the ministers and generals by raising her hand.
She didn’t even bother speaking to them and looked at Lin Fan to say, “What do you think this is about?”
The ministers and generals were all shocked when they heard this before turning to glare at Lin Fan.
There were more things that they wanted to say, but since it was Mu Bao Bao who spoke, they had no choice but to remain silent. They couldn’t overstep their position and try to impose their will on their ruler after all.
So the only thing that they could do was glare at Lin Fan in an attempt to pressure him.
But Lin Fan didn’t care about any of them at all.
Rather, he had been the same as Mu Bao Bao.
The entire time, it seemed as if he had been thinking about something as well.
Seeing that Lin Fan didn’t answer right away, there were a few ministers and generals that were annoyed by this. There was an urge inside of them that made them want to force Lin Fan to speak, but they held themselves back in the end since they were under the gaze of the empress.
They knew about the special relationship between Mu Bao Bao and Lin Fan after all.
After a long silence, Lin Fan finally said, “It should be the Five Great Sects moving.”
As soon as they heard this, the ministers and generals looked at him in shock.
Then they looked at him like he was a fool, as if they couldn’t believe that they had just wasted their time waiting for him to answer.
The ministers and generals were about to say something, but then they saw the look on Mu Bao Bao’s face.
She didn’t look like she thought he was joking, but rather looked like she was taking him seriously.
That was because the ministers and generals didn’t know about the secret that the former Emperor Mu had kept from them. They had no idea that their nation had been manipulated by the Five Great Sects in the first place and had only broken free of the control of these Five Great Sects.
After being silent for a bit, Mu Bao Bao said, “But why the Wu Empire?”
Lin Fan said with a sigh, “Why was the Wu Empire close to the Mu Empire before?”
Mu Bao Bao was a bit confused when she heard this at first, but then she slowly started to understand what he meant.
The Wu Empire had always strangely been close to the Mu Empire, but no one really understood why. They just thought that it was because the royal families of these two empires were close.
But now…after learning the secret behind the Mu Empire, Mu Bao Bao understood.
It was very likely that the same sects that had meddled with the Mu Empire were also controlling the Wu Empire. That was why they had forced these two empires to be close to protect their own interests.
But now that the Mu Empire had broken free, the Wu Empire that had previously been their ally had turned into their enemy.
So it made sense when Lin Fan said that it was the Five Great Sects that were making their move.
The problem was that if it really was the Five Great Sects making their move, what should they do?
It wasn’t as if they were capable of resisting the Five Great Sects right now if the Five Great Sects really wanted to do something.
Lin Fan could see what Mu Bao Bao was thinking, so he said, “It’s just an investigation right now to see what kind of power we hold. I think that if they wanted to do something, they wouldn’t send us an invitation like this.”
Mu Bao Bao slowly gave a nod in response.
The ministers and generals were all looking very impatient since they had no idea what this conversation was even about, but they didn’t dare say anything. They weren’t fools and could tell from this conversation that there was something that they didn’t know that Mu Bao Bao was discussing with Lin Fan.
After a long silence, Mu Bao Bao asked Lin Fan, “Are you confident in fighting those other sects?”
Lin Fan gave a shrug before saying, “It doesn’t matter if we win or lose in this tournament, what really matters is what stance we show. Right now, they don’t dare attack because your father brokered a deal with your mother’s family. So as long as we don’t show too strong of a stance, they won’t feel pressured enough to come.”
Mu Bao Bao gave a slow nod in response to this before asking, “Then what should we do in this situation?”
Lin Fan didn’t answer right away as a look of thought appeared on his face.
Finally, he said, “No matter what, we have to send a group to the Martial Might Sect. As for who should go…that is something that we need to discuss.” After that, he turned to look at the ministers and generals to say, “We’ll have to include them in this since it’s impossible to keep them in the dark. We are all in the same boat now.”
Mu Bao Bao also turned to look at her ministers and generals before slowly giving a nod.
Once they had finished hearing the story, the ministers and generals all had shocked looks on their faces. But then one of the ministers suddenly asked, “Is his majesty alright?”
The others quickly nodded in agreement and waited for Mu Bao Bao to answer.
Mu Bao Bao couldn’t help revealing a surprised look when she heard this, clearly not expecting this to be their reaction.
However, she understood why they acted this way.
The ministers and generals that she currently had were the loyal ones that had followed her father. They were ministers and generals that had been with her father for years, so they were very loyal to him.
So even after hearing this story, they weren’t worried about the imminent threat of the Five Great Sects. Rather, they were more worried about the safety of Mu Bao Bao’s father.
Mu Bao Bao shook her head before saying, “I don’t know, he just left suddenly and I don’t even know where he is now.”
All of the ministers and generals had downcast looks on their faces when they heard this.
But their attention was suddenly drawn back by a clap from Lin Fan.
All of them looked at Lin Fan with surprised looks, but Lin Fan just said, “For now, we don’t have time to worry about this. Right now, we need to figure out who to send, so think of names. We’ll pick some talented ones from our Mu Empire and have them join the Love Sect. That way, they can participate in this tournament.”
The ministers and generals were surprised by this plan, but they nodded in agreement in the end.
Since they now knew what was at stake, they no longer hesitated.
They even looked at Lin Fan differently since they knew what his position was.
With that, they started their first real discussion on this topic.
