k3s multimaster with embedded etcd is failing to form join cluster - kubernetes

Question

I have two fresh ubuntu VM(s)
VM-1 (65.0.54.158)
VM-2 (65.2.136.2)
I am trying to set up a HA k3s cluster with embedded ETCD. I am referring to the official document
Here is what I have executed on VM-1
curl -sfL https://get.k3s.io | K3S_TOKEN=AtJMEyWR8pE3HR4RWgT6IsqglOkBm0sLC4n0aDBkng9VE1uqyNevR6oCMNCqQNaF sh -s - server --cluster-init
Here is the response from VM-1
curl -sfL https://get.k3s.io | K3S_TOKEN=AtJMEyWR8pE3HR4RWgT6IsqglOkBm0sLC4n0aDBkng9VE1uqyNevR6oCMNCqQNaF sh -s - server --cluster-init
[INFO] Finding release for channel stable
[INFO] Using v1.24.4+k3s1 as release
[INFO] Downloading hash https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/releases/download/v1.24.4+k3s1/sha256sum-amd64.txt
[INFO] Downloading binary https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/releases/download/v1.24.4+k3s1/k3s
[INFO] Verifying binary download
[INFO] Installing k3s to /usr/local/bin/k3s
[INFO] Skipping installation of SELinux RPM
[INFO] Creating /usr/local/bin/kubectl symlink to k3s
[INFO] Creating /usr/local/bin/crictl symlink to k3s
[INFO] Creating /usr/local/bin/ctr symlink to k3s
[INFO] Creating killall script /usr/local/bin/k3s-killall.sh
[INFO] Creating uninstall script /usr/local/bin/k3s-uninstall.sh
[INFO] env: Creating environment file /etc/systemd/system/k3s.service.env
[INFO] systemd: Creating service file /etc/systemd/system/k3s.service
[INFO] systemd: Enabling k3s unit
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/k3s.service → /etc/systemd/system/k3s.service.
[INFO] systemd: Starting k3s
additionally, I have checked
sudo kubectl get nodes
and this worked perfectly
NAME STATUS ROLES AGE VERSION
ip-172-31-41-34 Ready control-plane,etcd,master 18m v1.24.4+k3s1
Now I am going to ssh into VM-2 and make it join the server running on VM-1
curl -sfL https://get.k3s.io | K3S_TOKEN=AtJMEyWR8pE3HR4RWgT6IsqglOkBm0sLC4n0aDBkng9VE1uqyNevR6oCMNCqQNaF sh -s - server --server https://65.0.54.158:6443
response
[INFO] Finding release for channel stable
[INFO] Using v1.24.4+k3s1 as release
[INFO] Downloading hash https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/releases/download/v1.24.4+k3s1/sha256sum-amd64.txt
[INFO] Downloading binary https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/releases/download/v1.24.4+k3s1/k3s
[INFO] Verifying binary download
[INFO] Installing k3s to /usr/local/bin/k3s
[INFO] Skipping installation of SELinux RPM
[INFO] Creating /usr/local/bin/kubectl symlink to k3s
[INFO] Creating /usr/local/bin/crictl symlink to k3s
[INFO] Creating /usr/local/bin/ctr symlink to k3s
[INFO] Creating killall script /usr/local/bin/k3s-killall.sh
[INFO] Creating uninstall script /usr/local/bin/k3s-uninstall.sh
[INFO] env: Creating environment file /etc/systemd/system/k3s.service.env
[INFO] systemd: Creating service file /etc/systemd/system/k3s.service
[INFO] systemd: Enabling k3s unit
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/k3s.service → /etc/systemd/system/k3s.service.
[INFO] systemd: Starting k3s
Job for k3s.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
See "systemctl status k3s.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details
here is the contents of /var/log/syslog
Sep 6 19:10:00 ip-172-31-46-114 systemd[1]: Starting Lightweight Kubernetes...
Sep 6 19:10:00 ip-172-31-46-114 sh[9516]: + /usr/bin/systemctl is-enabled --quiet nm-cloud-setup.service
Sep 6 19:10:00 ip-172-31-46-114 sh[9517]: Failed to get unit file state for nm-cloud-setup.service: No such file or directory
Sep 6 19:10:00 ip-172-31-46-114 k3s[9520]: time="2022-09-06T19:10:00Z" level=info msg="Acquiring lock file /var/lib/rancher/k3s/data/.lock"
Sep 6 19:10:00 ip-172-31-46-114 k3s[9520]: time="2022-09-06T19:10:00Z" level=info msg="Preparing data dir /var/lib/rancher/k3s/data/577968fa3d58539cc4265245941b7be688833e6bf5ad7869fa2afe02f15f1cd2"
Sep 6 19:10:02 ip-172-31-46-114 k3s[9520]: time="2022-09-06T19:10:02Z" level=info msg="Starting k3s v1.24.4+k3s1 (c3f830e9)"
Sep 6 19:10:22 ip-172-31-46-114 k3s[9520]: time="2022-09-06T19:10:22Z" level=fatal msg="starting kubernetes: preparing server: failed to get CA certs: Get \"https://65.0.54.158:6443/cacerts\": context deadline exceeded (Client.Timeout exceeded while awaiting headers)"
Sep 6 19:10:22 ip-172-31-46-114 systemd[1]: k3s.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Sep 6 19:10:22 ip-172-31-46-114 systemd[1]: k3s.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Sep 6 19:10:22 ip-172-31-46-114 systemd[1]: Failed to start Lightweight Kubernetes.
I am stuck at this for two days. I would really appreciate some help. Thank you.